If you don’t like the weather, just…

We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles — Mark 10:33

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When we visited Arkansas one April, we woke up at 2 a.m. to the sound of pouring rain, then drifted back to sleep. At 6 a.m., we woke to the hiss of heavy sleet brushing against the windows like cymbals. When it was time for breakfast, we walked through a quiet snow shower. And for the walk back from breakfast, it was sunny and 65 degrees.

Today, on Palm Sunday, I’m reflecting on how people’s attitudes can shift just as quickly. In the span of just a few days, from “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” to “Crucify him!” Religious and political leaders collaborated to rid themselves of a shared problem and the crowds were carried on those cultural winds.

God’s dwelling place

“Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? Now this is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. You sow much seed but you harvest little. You eat but you are never satisfied. You drink but you never become drunk. You get dressed, but no one is warm. The one who makes money puts that money into a bag with a hole in it. This is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. Go up to the mountains, bring lumber down, and build the House. I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord. You expected much, but look, there was little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? This is a declaration of the Lord of Armies. It is because my house lies in ruins while each of you is busy with your own house. So it is because of you that the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the olive oil, on everything which the soil produces, on people, on livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

— Haggai 1

For decades Christians have been told to get outside of the bubble—that our ministry lies beyond the church walls. It’s an important message, but something’s been lost: the health of the Church—Christ’s Body and God’s Dwelling Place. In our preoccupation with our own lives and our zeal to solve the world’s problems, we’ve left God’s House to deteriorate. Is it surprising that our efforts seem so fruitless? And we’re tired. Now is the time to work on God’s House—the Church—even as we continue to engage the world.

“So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

— Ephesians 2:19-22

The Life Gauges through postures

Our understanding and discussion of the Life Gauges can be helped by practicing their associated postures.

HUMILITY
Fall to your knees. Bow before God. Raise your hands to the sky. This is a posture of humility. It’s a posture of surrender—we are thoroughly defeated by overwhelming love.
Confession: God is great. God is good. And God is near.

RESPONSIBILITY
Extend your arms forward with open hands, palms up, in a posture to receive. Now pull your arms toward your body and close your hands in a posture of grasping, taking hold.
Confession: Good stewards of God’s grace.

ACCLIMATION
Stand facing one direction, then turn 180 degrees and face the other direction. Reject what the world says about you (and others) and how the world wants you to live. Turn and accept what God says about you (and others) and the way of life he offers. This is a picture of ongoing repentance.
Confession: People like us do things like this.

IMITATION
Return to your ending posture of DISCIPLINE—grasping hands close to the body. Now reverse the DISCIPLINE posture, extending your arms forward, opening your hands and turning your palms upward. This is a posture of release, of generosity. Freely we have received. Now, we freely give.
Confession: We so love the world that we give.

MISSION
Extend your arms forward as if reaching around a barrel, about to give a bear hug. This is a posture of gathering—guiding people to the life they were created to live. It’s acting as a shepherd—corralling people into a place of acceptance and shalom.
Confession: Our story for God’s glory.