Outcasts

/ Jason Morris / Leave a comment

Who are the people you avoid? Who are the people that if you see them on the street you attempt to avoid any kind of contact (verbal, physical, eye)? Why do we avoid these people?

In Jesus’ day, he seemed to spend a great deal of time with the people the religious folks avoided. Sinners…unclean folks…this is who Jesus would hang out with. Yet, I spend most of my time with “good, clean religious folks.” There’s a big gap in who Jesus was/is and who I am.

I’ve been dealing with a couple of texts this week that have me thinking about the people I avoid. Why do I avoid them? Is it my own fear and insecurities? Am I too concerned about what the church would think if they heard I was spending time with the outcasts of our day?

Jesus called His followers to go into the world and make disciples of all people…not just the clean folks…not just the people who are “just like me”…not just the people I’m comfortable with…the call was to share the Good News with everyone…even the people that we desire to avoid. Sometimes, the people I most desire to avoid are the very people who desperately need to hear the Good News. And, that’s a tough word to receive.

Yes Sir!

/ Jason Morris / 1 Comment

Surprisingly enough, I really enjoyed the MIA, TI, Lil’ Wayne, Kanye, and Jay-Z performance at the Grammy’s! And, I’m looking forward to the Radiohead performance. Kanye was also on point with Estelle. Jennifer Hudson brought the house to its feet…and my wife to the verge of tears. Chris Martin and Jay Z was an interesting mix…quite enjoyable. Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney! Most know I’m not a big Beatles fan…but I dig the Foo and Nirvana…so I’m enjoying watching Dave Grohl have fun. I found the Stevie Wonder and Jonas Brothers mix to be just weird. But, wonder was incredible! Taylor Swift definitely out-classed and out-performed Miley Cyrus (no surprise there). Unfortunately, I missed the U2 performance…of course, I can always watch it later. Carrie Underwood was pretty much what one would expect. Katy Perry proved that she is only in the business because she’s willing to kiss girls and sing songs about it over and over and over…oh, and wear next to nothing doing it. If I feel so inclined, I’ll post some thoughts on the other performances.

Additional: Just watched the Radiohead performance. Yeah, Thom Yorke pretty much killed it. Those USC band kids pretty much just experienced a career highlight. “Performed with Radiohead at the Grammy’s” looks pretty good on a resume! Neil Diamond…not bad. Bo Didley tribute…decent. JT and TI…not impressed. Lil’ Wayne, Robin Thicke, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band…extremely surprising (I really liked it). Oh, Ne-Yo continually impresses me. His voice is just so smooth. He does some incredible stuff…but makes it look and sound so easy…he doesn’t force anything (unlike Jamie Foxx…who does a decent job…but he really pushes…and he has to be one of the most annoying celebrities of all-time…extremely talented, extremely egotistical). And, Smokey Robinson…the man can sing. How old is he anyway?

Bind & Loose

/ Jason Morris / Leave a comment

Several times over the last two weeks, while studying or doing devotional reading, I have come across two verses of Scriptures that have caused me to do a great deal of thinking about various issues.

In Matthew 16:19, Jesus says, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” In the second verse, from John 20:23, Jesus says, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven.”

What are we binding on the earth? What are we loosening on the earth? Are these things that we should be binding or loosening?

What are we forgiving? What are we refusing to forgive? Are we forgiving the right things? Are we refusing to forgive the right things?

What do these passages say to us about issues like gay marriage, abortion, war, torture, corporate greed, white collar crime, etc?

These two verses don’t stand alone. They are surrounded by many other important verses. I tend to not be one who grabs one verse and focuses on it. But, over the last two weeks, these two verses have grabbed me. These two verses have been challenging my thinking on issues…both major and minor.

I feel that, at times, the Church (mainly the religious leaders) have been in the business of binding and loosening, forgiving and not forgiving the wrong things. I’m afraid that we have picked the wrong battles. I’m fearful that we’ve had too narrow of a focus. And, we’ve helped create a Christian culture that is more consumed in what we are binding and not forgiving than in what we should be doing.

There are many in the church who are more concerned that two men might join together in a civil union than they are that the divorce rate among Christians is rapidly increasing or that people…children will die tonight because they don’t have clean water or enough food. I’d like to see the Church rise up to stand “for” something, rather than “against” something. We are at our loudest when it comes to gay marriage and abortion. Yet, we are all too silent when it comes to hunger, AIDS, war, torture, greed, divorce, mis-treatment of God’s creation, and so on.

What can we do to make sure we are binding and loosing the right things?

What’s the Emergency?

/ Jason Morris / Leave a comment

In our current individualistic society, not only are people only concerned about themselves…they also seem to move about in a hurried frenzy. We are so consumed by our agendas that we have a total disregard for others. This was apparent in the Marsh parking lot yesterday afternoon.

As I was preparing to exit the parking lot onto McGalliard at the exit nearest Noodles & Co, a large SUV pulled up behind me. Now, as I approached the exit, the light at McGalliard turned green. So, if you are familiar with Muncie, you understand that a large, continuous stream of traffic flooded the street. Of course, there were no openings for me to pull out. So, I had to patiently wait.

Patient waiting was obviously not on the agenda of the “Yorktown Soccer Mom” (as was proudly displayed on the back of the SUV) behind me. She let out a long honk. I  turned my head, pointed to the long line of traffic, and waved. I was extremely tempted to fly the bird. However, I kept my cool. This is when it got nuts. She pulls right beside me, cuts me off, and attempts to turn in front of me. Oh, and she also honked and gave me a dirty look.

My thought was, “What’s the emergency? Someone must be dying. That’s the only explanation for this kind of behavior.”

So, she tore out in front of me…squealing her tires. I also turned out. And, as I passed her at the stop light (she picked the slow lane), I gave a little beep, smiled, and waved. I don’t think I’ve ever received a more evil stare as I did in that moment. She then proceeded to weave in and out of traffic recklessly.

It’s all too obvious that she is extremely important (definitely more important than anyone else on that road). It’s obvious that whatever she was speeding off to was a matter of life or death. Certainly it wasn’t a matter of starting dinner a few minutes late because of busy traffic that spurred on this behavior.

Of course, once I saw the Yorktown soccer mom paraphernalia all over the back, I wasn’t surprised by the obnoxious behavior!

We live in a selfish society. We live in a culture where people expect what they want, when they want it. We live in an age where people are too consumed with themselves that they can’t wait until a line of traffic passes by. We can’t wait our turn. We have to push people out of our way. We get restless when we are forced to wait.

It was a good reminder to me that we truly need to slow down…and not just on the roads. We need to realize that it’s actually a good thing to be patient. We need to realize that others acutally are important. It’s when more and more of us learn to value others that this world might have a chance to improve.