Emmanuel - part 2

    A few posts ago I talked about similarities between life and stories.  It can be really interesting to think about people as characters.  Different characters have different sorts of roles, sometimes the same character will have two different roles in two different stories, but I think it is interesting to think of people as different types of characters.  Who are the sidekicks, the antiheroes, the foils, the eccentric bystanders?  I once did an activity for an acting class where we took a list of character types and tried to think of as many characters from different stories as we could that fit those character types.
    Recently I’ve been thinking about a particular character type.  I’m not aware of any existing terms that describe this type of character, but it is pretty common.  If you happen to be particularly skilled at nomenclature, you should recommend a name.  Here’s your opportunity to contribute to the field of literature.  I’m thinking of the characters who always seem to know what to do and to be able to do it.  The ones who show up when the situation is darkest and know exactly what to do.  When everyone else has exhausted their resources, this character always has another strength or skill or strategy.  Gandalf, Sir Percy, Father Brown, Aslan, John Whitaker, Orion, Mufasa, Sherlock Holmes.  (I didn’t put superheroes in the list merely because of perspective.  To other people, they look like these sorts of characters, but they know better.)  Maybe you can tell the most about these characters by their absences  When Mr. Whitaker is out of town, will Connie know how to solve Jimmy’s moral dilemma?  When Aslan is not in Narnia, no one is capable of fending off the White Witch’s winter.  When Mufasa dies, the Pridelands are left to the appetites of Scar and his hyena henchmen.  When they are not around, anything might happen.  Nothing is certain.  Nothing is safe.
    These characters might not always succeed. Three of them died, but they bring certainty.  I think the scariest thing in the world is uncertainty, and having a character who is confident for good reasin goes a long way.  Even if they are not around, as long as everyone follows their instructions perfectly, everything will work out.  Then of course, someone realizes that they might not be so trustworthy and decides to do their own thing rather than obey the über wise character. The funny thing is that it still works out. Maybe they knew something would go wrong ahead of time, so they planned for it.  Maybe they return or are resurrected like Gandalf or Aslan or like Mufasa it turns out that their influence continues through another character.  Maybe Sir Percy and Sherlock Holmes were there all along in disguise, but no one knew it or Father Brown was there, but no one noticed him.  Even if they have to pay a huge price to fix things, they will.  Then of course it seems obvious.  Everyone wonders why they had any doubts.
    Jesus had a lot of similarities to these characters.  Jesus was in some tight situations during His lifetime.  His disciples got pretty scared even when He was with them.  There was always a storm or a mob or a lack of resources that had the disciples worried, but eventually, they started to get the hang of things.  Something goes wrong and then Jesus just blinks and everything is okay.  Then just when the disciples are starting to get the hang of things, Jesus is gone.  He’s arrested, then He’s killed, then after He has come back to life, He floats away and disappears.  With Jesus there, they knew they could handle anything, but then suddenly, He was gone.  The über wise one who always knew what to do and made everything work out right wasn’t around anymore.  None of the disciples knew what to do or how to do it.  They just waited around in locked rooms or staring at the sky waiting for Jesus to come back.  His absence cut deeply.  The had been called out, chosen, taught, trained.  Why?
    I wonder what those early Jesus-less meetings of the disciples were like.  How long did it take them to figure out what the plan was.  “So Jesus said there was another guy coming right?  A helper?”  “Yeah, He said the helper would only come if He left.”  “And He said that would be to our advantage?   To have this helper guy?  How is that possible?” Did they have any idea what would happen at Pentecost?  How did they picture the “Spirit of Truth?”  I also wonder how much they missed Jesus presence after the Holy Spirit came.
    I think the Mufasa analogy fits best here.  Even though He wasn’t there physically, His influence continued through the teaching He had given His disciples.  I understand that personally.  I see things every minute in my house, my family, my thoughts that I attribute to my dad.  Even though he isn’t here, he still influences my life in a lot of ways.  I can’t even begin to imagine what my life would be like if I never knew my dad.  Imagine how the disciples felt after losing Jesus.  He was gone but He was still part of their lives.  That’s an understatement.  Their lives were still His.  The fact that they were sitting in that locked room talking to each other was because He had brought them together.
    Then, the Holy Spirit comes.  Not only do they have Jesus words and each other to guide them.  They have the ultimate guide, an internal guide.  They have God, Jesus, Himself living in their lives.  I can’t honestly say I understand how the Holy Spirit works better than the guy who first drew a shoulder angel, but if Jesus wanted Him to come so badly that He was willing to leave, it’s a pretty big deal.

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    I skipped over the first part of the Emmanuel story.  That’s the piece that most people are thinking about this time of year. at least I hope so.  It’s the part where Jesus comes to be with us, and not just with us.  He becomes one of us in almost every way beginning with infancy.  Anyway, I wanted to remind you of the rest of the story with this post.  To remember that Emmanuel wasn’t just for the first century.  God is still with us.  God is in us.  He’s also in the people around us.  The influence of Jesus is still here.  Look for it.  Look in your thoughts, your actions, your words.  Look for it in your friends’ and family’s words, thoughts and actions.  When you sit around your Christmas tree with your family tomorrow, think about Emmanuel.  Think about the awesome fact that God’s presence is there with you.  Think about the fact that the smallest figure in the manger scene came so you could rip colorful paper apart excitedly and eat ham and sip hot cocoa and listen to bells and caroling in peace.  And so that you don’t have to be afraid.  In fact He’s right there with you.  Always.  Even to the end.

Merry Christmas!

Appearance

    What do you think of me? What do you think of my hair, clothes, decisions, purchases, habits, speech?  Do you care what you think about me?  Probably less than I do.  It's almost like I have a responsibility to myself to carefully shape everyone's opinions about me.  Or maybe it's a responsibility to everyone else.  Should I shower because I want to protect you from unpleasant odors or because I don't want a reputation as a slob?
  I tend to be very aware of other's opinions of me.  Whenever I say something my subconscious kicks into gear and watches all the reactions around me. When I tell a funny story, even if it wasn’t meant merely as a joke, I feel self conscious and slightly embarrassed if no one laughs.  After I leave a conversation, I often think back to any awkward parts and replay them multiple times to think of how I could have communicated my point better. When I write a blog post, I generally pause for several seconds before I press publish and think about who will be reading the post and whether I should actually publish it. I still have some unpublished posts on my computer, mostly because they just aren't very interesting, but partly because I’m not sure what people would think if they read them.
  Maybe image is important. Having other people think well of you can't be a bad thing. It allows others to trust us and accept us.  What if we knew everyone's dark secrets? If we knew all the ways they were likely to let us down, we probably wouldn't give them the chance. Maybe we would. We know that everyone makes mistakes. Would it really make a difference if we knew specifically what mistakes those were? Here's a question: if we knew what mistakes we made ourselves how would that affect our self-image?  I know I have a blind spot for my mistakes.  I used to try to confess my sins as part of my regular prayer routine and would just sit still for a few minutes trying to think of recent sins to confess.  I couldn't think of anything.  Obviously I had. I honestly tried to remember my sins, but they just wouldn't come to me.  I think my idea of sin was off too, but I'll get to that in another post. The point is, we don't really see ourselves as we are.  Even people with poor self-image think of themselves poorly for the wrong reasons.  When I look backwards with minimal bias, I notice questionable  motives that I would have denied  vehemently at the time.  I think that if we understood our own motives and actions we would be more understanding of others. And if we gave others the benefit of the doubt regarding their motives, meanwhile realizing realistically that their motives likely aren't pure, but that it isn't our place to judge them if they aren't. How many conflicts could we avoid and how many broken relationships could be repaired if we kept this perspective?