Are We Zombies?

       I don't really like zombies, but I'm often times intrigued by our American culture's fascination with zombie movies.  I wonder if it's because we fear that we're becoming something that resembles a zombie.  Maybe we are a little like zombies in that all we do is try to satisfy our need to consume relentlessly, whether that be food, sex, things, money, or an array of other things.  The other part of it is that zombies are manifestations of our apcolyptic fears.  Hollywood knows that we feel vulnerable in a time where terrorism, war, and disease are nightly news stories.  We don't want to become zombies, we want to be alive and free to do whatever we want!  Sometimes I feel that our worship has turned us into zombies, going through the motions and giving our time to God only on Sundays.

     Last weekend I went with the Lions for Christ on their Fall Retreat to Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville.  The theme of the retreat was centered around this question, "What does it mean to be a resurrected people?"  Which is a intriguing question to me, because I'm not exactly sure what it means.  My boss from Impact, Dennis, was the speaker and he did a great job of speaking about and presenting discussions about this idea.

        My take on this thought is that we are a people who have entered into the resurrection with Jesus, and because of that we're supposed to live differently.  I had somewhat of an epiphany on this retreat, when we discussed a few of these questions and ideas.  The first being a combination of two questions, "How do we as resurrected people, treat non-resurrected people, and resurrected people?"  The other being a look at the the text from Isaiah 58, seen below.

¹ "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
       Raise your voice like a trumpet.
       Declare to my people their rebellion
       and to the house of Jacob their sins.
 ² For day after day they seek me out;
       they seem eager to know my ways,
       as if they were a nation that does what is right
       and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
       They ask me for just decisions
       and seem eager for God to come near them.
 ³ 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
       'and you have not seen it?
       Why have we humbled ourselves,
       and you have not noticed?'
       "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
       and exploit all your workers.
 ⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
       and in striking each other with wicked fists.
       You cannot fast as you do today
       and expect your voice to be heard on high.
 ⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
       only a day for a man to humble himself?
       Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
       and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
       Is that what you call a fast,
       a day acceptable to the LORD ?
 ⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
       to loose the chains of injustice
       and untie the cords of the yoke,
       to set the oppressed free
       and break every yoke?
 ⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
       and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
       when you see the naked, to clothe him,
       and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
 ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
       and your healing will quickly appear;
       then your righteousness will go before you,
       and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
 ⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
       you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
       "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
 ¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.
 ¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
       he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
       and will strengthen your frame.
       You will be like a well-watered garden,
       like a spring whose waters never fail.
  
 When I think about how to treat resurrected and non-resurrected people, and Isaiah 58, I see the same answer in each situation.  My answer is that mercy trumps judgment.

Mercy trumps judgment when the wicked prosper.

Mercy trumps judgment when my faith is slandered.

Mercy trumps judgment when people take advantage of my kindness.

Mercy trumps judgment when people don't like the way I worship.

Mercy trumps judgment when when I see a homeless alcoholic.

Mercy trumps judgment when I see the hungry and hopeless.

Mercy trumps judgment.
      
       When we encounter people in darkness and their death in this world, it may not always be good, yet we still bring the resurrection which is mercy to them.  In our communities of resurrected people, when strife and differences arise, grace will bring us together and heal, not judgment.  When we choose to take care of the oppressed and the stranger, instead of pushing away, and judging, our worship becomes true as we see in Isaiah 58.  In some ways our worship is resurrected, brought from death to life, and from darkness to light.  When all these things happen our lights will rise in the darkness, and our night will shine like the noonday.

Between two trees

      One of the coolest things I've noticed about the bible is that it begins and ends with trees.  In Genesis, we find a lot of events surrounding the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  In Revelation, we are told that those whose robes are washed, are going commune around the Tree of Life.  So in some way we live between these two trees, and I like that.  Not just because I like trees, and they're fun to climb, but because it means that it all things are going to be restored to how they were. 
  
      There are these televangelists I used to see on Daystar sometimes, talking about the end of the world, and how it's all going down.  I don't really care about how close we are getting to the Tree of Life, or how we'll end up there.  I'm more with how many people we can get to that point.  I have a real existential angst about a lot of things in life, I don't really want to make money, and I don't get excited about a lot of things that people do.  I think the only thing that matters is bringing more and more people into the kingdom of God.  In the end, it's really all that's going to matter. 

      I think we should all have an eschatological vision that excites us for heaven, and drives us to bring more and more people along for the ride. In Matthew 19, Jesus speaks about renewing all things, and sometimes that means leaving everything you know, and all your family, because as he says, it's worth it.  It's too bad we don't do this more, I wonder what it would be like if we did sell all our possessions and just follow Jesus.  If we redacted the bible I'm not sure we wouldn't start with that passage. 


Anywho, in my opinion, there's very little that matters in relation to what we do between these two trees, unless it expands the kingdom of God.  I'm excited to speak a bit about the renewal of all things tomorrow when I preach about Jonah.