Cascade Church Portland

In the Desert:: Anger that Exposes Grief

If I were to tell you that it will start raining lemonade tomorrow, most (all?) of you wouldn't start setting out pitchers to collect all the coming lemonade. 

This doesn't have much to do with your perception of my trustworthiness or your general amount of faith. It's more basic than that. Our brains are wired to notice patterns in the world around us. If you bang your head on the top of your car when you get out of it, you'll start adjusting the way you get out of that car. We notice patterns because they keep us safe and avoid unnecessary pain. We expect things to happen much the way that they have happened in the past. 

This is good and healthy behavior for all people. If you saw someone try and jump through the windshield of their car to get inside, you wouldn't say, "Wow! Look at the faith on them!"

While this logical way of engaging the physical world around us, sometimes it can really hold us back. 

Here's what I mean. What if you're asked to try something that you've never tried before? What if you're given a new task or role in your home, work or school? The pattern recognition system in your brain will come back empty. You're likely to resist or avoid it unless there is a significant benefit you can identify for trying this new task. 

This can mean that we see ourselves today and into the future in the same way we saw ourselves yesterday.

This week we're going to be looking at Moses bring water out of a rock in Numbers. It makes me wonder what unexpected things are ready to be set free in you, regardless if you or others have ever seen in the past. 

In the Desert:: Imposter Syndrome

The accusations that cut us the deepest are the ones we have already aimed at ourselves hundreds of times before. 

 

In the desert Moses faces the accusation that he's lording his power over the rest of the community for a job he tried to talk his way out of from the very beginning. He never wanted to be in charge in the first place. 

 

Have you ever felt like an imposter and no amount of success or time has ever caused you to shake that reality? That's because feeling like an imposter gets worse with success and time, not better. How does God want us to face the idea that we're not worth our current life in the desert? What can be set right when we're willing to step out of feeling false and into the truth that God has made us enough for the life we live? 

In the Desert:: Believer and Atheist

Have you ever traveled with a loved one to the town they grew up in, but they haven't been back in years? 

It usually isn't too long before they start regaling you with stories of an aunt who one time got into a fender bender at a particular intersection. They can tell you the name of the families who used to live in every house. They can tell you the spots that they used to hang out in during high school. They are being flooded with memories by being back in this space and it's almost like they're not in control of their stories. They just flow out of them. Some are profound and some are completely mundane. 

It's like you are with the outline of the person you know, but their mind and soul is transported back to whatever time their memories exist in. They are like an explorer bringing back tales of travel from a distant land. 

The stories they tell you and the stories they tell themselves shape their beliefs about who they are and who others are. Taken to its extreme this can be used to say that we just need to change our stories and we can change the realities of our pasts. That's not what I'm talking about. 

Rather, I mean that our stories are both what has happened and our interpretation of what happened. Over the course of our lives we can view certain events charitably until we start to realize more of the abuse that was present. And we can also view parts of our own story fearfully only to one day have a triumphant relationship over them. 

This week we're going to look at an experience of some scouts coming back to the people of the Wilderness and tell them a story about their future. It's a helpful reflection on the stories we tell ourselves and the places that our relationship to the events around us take us. 

In the Desert:: Three Feet of Quail

I grew up with two dogs throughout my childhood. Maggie and Ginger. 

Ginger was a Hungarian hunting dog called a Vizsla. They're exceptional dogs for going after birds and I once watched Ginger leap into the air and knock one down in flight. Ginger was pretty impressive. 

Ginger also had a number of bad habits, including chasing every car that drove up and down our 100 yard driveway. Ginger was obsessed with attacking the cars and chasing them away. Driving slow and waiting for Ginger to lose interest wasn't a good plan because he would just closer and nip at your tires. Every vehicle was a battle and Ginger intended on winning. 

When Ginger would trot back to the house it was never triumphant. Many other dogs would be celebrating the way they chased the intruders away, but Ginger always looked like he just narrowly missed the catch of a lifetime. It was like he was hoping to chase and catch the car and wrestle to the ground. Drag the car back to our front yard and present the crumpled corpse of the Chrysler as the spoil of war.

One afternoon Ginger finally caught one. My Grandpa had been visiting and took off down the driveway. Ginger was off in the field and found himself in perfect position for an attack from the flank. Grandpa only ever saw a *poof* of dust and a red-haired dog rolling up the driveway. Ginger gained a temporary limp and a scratched up chest, but most importantly he learned a good lesson. 

Be careful what you chase because one day you might catch it. 

This week we'll look at a story that sees the Israelites getting what they want so badly in comedically oversized portions. There are times when our desires take up the whole of our attention that we never bother to ask why these desires and what we would do if they were met. 

In the Desert:: Presence and Absence

In 2003 the 5th Harry Potter book was coming out. 

I was woefully unaware of the phenomenon that Harry Potter had become at this stage. I only knew that my wife, who had just started her teaching career, was very plugged into young adult literature and told me this was a big deal. The book release date was right around her birthday, so it felt like the right idea to wait in line and purchase the book on the first date it was released. 

As a 21 year old male, with no children, I was a bit of an oddity in the line to purchase Harry Potter:The Order of the Phoenix.
No scarf. 
No wand. 
No lightening bolt scar on my forehead. 

I was really out of place and struggling to put all these pieces together. When I got to the front of the line the woman who was behind the counter remarked on how much she appreciated that I had worn my "Harry Potter glasses." 

In my lifetime I am 98% sure if the comments that I am receiving are compliments or insults. Very rarely do I ever have to decide between saying "Thank You!" or "Shut Your Face."

Over the next several years I figured out this was meant as a compliment and I jumped feet first into the world of Harry Potter. I'm no expert, but I can hold my own in the Harry Potter universe. 

One concept from the books that I find most interesting is horcruxes.

For the uninitiated, the lead villain in the books has placed portions of his very soul in physical objects around the world that make him immortal until they are all found and destroyed. You can kill his body, but he's preserved by these horcruxes. 

I think it's a fascinating concept to fragment yourself in order to save yourself. If you place enough of the core of your being around the world you can continue to function in the world and attain a demented sort of immortality. 

I think there are a lot of parallels to this concept in our own lives and this concept is one that we're going to be looking at this week as we continue our look at "In the Desert.." and the wilderness experiences of our lives. What are our temptations to fragment ourselves for survival and can we ever hope to unite them all back together again?

In the Desert:: Mirrors and Potential

The story of the Israelites is one of Slavery, Wilderness and the Promised Land.

This triad features a kind of reality that is known and becomes comfortable after awhile in the beginning. This is the slavery in Egypt. It's not a reality that anyone would choose, but the pain is repeated often enough to provide a twisted kind of safety and predictability. 

Then there is a major disruption that puts everything into disarray. The parting of the Red Sea signaled a breaking from the past and into a new reality. This new reality was wandering in a desert that was an in-between space. They weren't where they were going, but they definitely weren't where they had been. 

The entering of the Promised Land features a new reality that was unimaginable in the previous stage. It's filled with hope that the sins of Egypt can be corrected in this new society. God's kingdom can come to Earth. 

I'm interested in this cycle of 3 because I think it is instructive for the cycles in life that we see in our own stories. We have times where things feel stable and known. We feel comfortable moving and acting in this stage. And then we have a dramatic change that shifts everything. These times are usually marked by confusion, mourning and a fierce questioning of everything. The following stage is flooded with all the energy of a renewed purpose and direction. Things feel like the click into place again and we can start to gain some traction. 

I believe that when we live in that Promised Land stage long enough we will create a new kind of slavery. Every revolution becomes an institution. 
We start to create rules and structures to preserve this Promised Land and those structures take the Promise right out of the Land. It starts to morph into an unrecognizable reality because you can't ever create enough structures to keep time from moving along. Promised Lands are for periods of time, but they weren't meant to last forever. Time keeps march on.

And so the cycle needs to begin again.

We're going to be exploring this triad of life over the course of our new message series and hope to encourage one another to not fear or fall in love with any one of the stages. To be present to each and every one of them is to be present to how God is moving and working in our lives. 

Perspectives:: Putting All Things Back Together

Jason Fileta (Executive Director of Micah Challenge) shares his thoughts on Genesis 28 for the last installment of our Perepectives message series.

Perspectives:: Stones of Remembrance

People in the United States are experiencing loneliness at a greater rate than ever before. 

If you feel alone in reading this email, well, you aren't alone. That isn't a statement to dismiss your sense of isolation, but to point to data that says that it's something many other people are experiencing too. 

It's quite possible our country has never had so many people living it and we have technology that makes our ability to connect greater than ever before. These factors should lead to greater connection between people, but it's having the opposite effect. 

We're surrounded by people and feel a deep loneliness and isolation. In fact, having people all around us can actually lead to a greater sense of isolation. While being surrounded by people, nobody seems like they understand how you see the world. And these feelings become overwhelming. They shape our reality and lead us to believe that no one is with us to laugh, cry, sulk or dance. All of those activities are for us to experience alone without other people to share them. 

And while these narratives are very real in our heads, they aren't true of human experience. We're not alone. There are other people who have had similar experiences who are also feeling isolated and are looking for connection. They want to share their lives with other people and break through the false narrative of isolation. 

I imagine this sense of being all alone in the world is one that Jacob felt while he was in the wilderness running from his brother. He had experienced the close community of his family and twin brother for 40 years of life and had walked away from all of it.  He felt physical and emotional distance. 

And yet in this place is where God greeted him in a dream. He was reminded that we wasn't alone in that space and he wouldn't be alone at any other stage of his life. God was with him and God was going to stay with him. That's a powerful intervention in the depth of isolation. 

You're not alone. 
You won't be alone. 
You are deeply loved and valued. 

Connie Baker:: Spiritual Trauma and Abuse

** We had some technical dfficulties with this recording, but our team is awesome and salvaged some audio from a video recording that was happening in the back of teh room. It will sound a little far off.**

 

Trauma and abuse are words that are thrown around a lot these days.
If we aren't being traumatized by getting the wrong order at your local coffee shop than you're feeling that the person at the DMV counter was using abusive language. 

The temptation when certain words are being over used is to roll your eyes hard when you hear them. While that posture makes sense, it doesn't mean that the concepts aren't helpful to explore. Maybe you need to understand it better for yourself, or maybe you need to understand it better for people that are close to you. 

Certain systems are set up perfectly to produce abusive or traumatic experiences. This doesn't mean that they always create abuse and trauma, but it does mean that we have to be aware so that we can be involved in healthy ways. Systems with significant relational connections and an imbalance of power are places where abuse and trauma can happen. Throw in relationship with the all-powerful and all-seeing God of the universe and you could see how people could be profoundly hurt if it was used against them instead of for them. 

Almost no one creates abusive or traumatic systems by choice. Believing that you aren't an abuser doesn't serve any purpose other than making yourself feel better. We want to lean in to the reality that church can be an abusive or traumatic experience so that we don't become that. 

These concepts aren't ours, but directly the words of Jesus and clearly linked to the few times he showed anger in all the Bible. 

Perspectives:: I Will Be With You

The image that I remember most from what I was taught about heaven growing up was that the streets will be covered in gold. 

For an 8 year old, this is not a selling point. 

What am I supposed to do with golden streets? Unless there is chocolate underneath that gold, I wasn't interested. 

A root beer fountain at the center of town? Now we're talking. 
Streets covered in trampolines? I'm all about it. 
Gold teeth for every person? That sounds fun!

In that framework heaven was a place that I just needed to believe was really, really good. If the descriptions didn't appeal to you, don't worry about it. One day you'll get there and you'll finally "get it". It was a future reality that was waaaay better than this reality and all of your dreams (but not the sinful ones) could come true. 

The idea of heaven coming to earth was a confusing one. Is that like a sneak peak of the sequel? Would we just get those golden streets in downtown Lents? How much and what parts of heaven would come to earth? 

In the story that we're lingering on for our current message series, there's a dream where heaven and earth meet. The angels of heaven are seen here on earth as the move up and down these steps. This vision sets Jacob off on a course of seeking after God's leading in his life, but why is that? What about the meeting of heaven and earth matters for us here and now and is that something we'd like to see.