May the 4th be with you

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Well it is May 4th again. It is like it comes around every year. Uggg....

Every year I have to put up with Padme saying, "May the 4th be with you" every time I pass her in the hall and it seems as if on May 4th I pass her all the time (I think she just wanders the Hall all day saying, "May the 4th be with you" to everyone she sees). I have noticed that there aren't as many members in our "Y" on May 4th, it is as if it is a national holiday or something. I am leaning toward the "or something" part, since on every other holiday that we are open people swarm us, but on this one they stay away. Personally, and this is only my hypothesis, I think it because Padme roams the halls saying "May the 4th be with you to everyone she meets. Uggg...I can't say Uggg...to many times for this one, just say-in.

May the 4th is the day before May 5th, or more commonly known as Cinco de mayo, which is a pretty important holiday around here, especially for corona beer and margarita sales.  Enough about that though, what I really want to talk with you about is culture.

The word culture gets thrown around a lot by people, mostly V.P's and C level folk in organizations; which is fine, but I (as a fellow ragamuffin) seldom hear the word "Grace" when discussing culture. I think that is because we don't understand it. Oh, don't get me wrong, us church folk can define it easily enough, but actually living a grace filled life, well not so much. 

Brennan Manning said it best when he said:  

Our culture as made the word grace impossible to understand.  We resonate to slogans such as:

“There’s no free lunch.”

“You get what you deserve.”

“You want money?  Work for it.”

“You want love?  Earn it.” 

“You want mercy?  Show you deserve it.”

“Do unto others before they do unto you.”

“Watch out for welfare lines, the shiftless street people, free hot dogs at school, affluent students with federal loans—it’s a con game.”

“By all means, give unto others what they deserve but not one penny more.”[1]

 A friend told me she overheard a pastor say to a child, “God loves good little boys.”  As I listen to sermons with their pointed emphasis on personal effort – no pain, no gain – I get the impression that a do-it-yourself spirituality is the American fashion.[2]

 …our spirituality often starts with self, not God.[3]

 Though lip service is paid to the gospel of grace, many Christians live as if only personal discipline and self-denial will mold the perfect me.  The emphasis is on what I do rather than on what God is doing.[4] 

This do it yourself mentality, and reliance on self not God, is a real problem in our "culture" today. 

As Manning points out. When things are successful it is because of  me. When things go badly we blame God. All the while people look at us and say, "Get your act together!" not even thinking that God might be able to use them to help someone else and be the blessing of "Grace" in their life. 

So when Padme runs through the halls yelling, "May the 4th be with you." I have to ask myself, "What 4th am I relying on?"

The 4th of God

or

The 4th of myself?

This is what am pondering today.

Do you ever ponder this stuff too?

Something to ponder.

Oh here comes Padme again, I better hide.

Blessings,

Roger

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[1]Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2005), 16.

[2]Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2005), 16-17.

[3]Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2005), 17.

[4]Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2005), 17.