There Are Some Hills We Cannot Climb Alone

I don’t understand it and much of the time I don’t like it, but it’s true.

There are some hills that we cannot climb alone.

Although first glance may tell you otherwise, what follows is not really about cycling.

Near the end of my bike commute are two hills.

The first is on San Pascual, with a short but steep climb from the base of the Arroyo in Highland Park to the road that winds along into Pasadena. The second is another steep climb from the bottom of the Colorado Street Bridge to the top of Orange Grove.

Neither hill is that steep or that long, but near the end of a 14 mile commute, my legs feel like jelly and when I’m commuting solo I’ve never made it all the way up both hills in one day. I end up being that moron-on-the-side-of-the-road pushing his bike up a hill wishing I could tell all the cars passing by that I’ve been on my bike for over an hour, that I’ve only been riding this much for a few months, that I’m not a total lightweight.

It’s not that I don’t try. I start out determined to make it all the way up. This time will be different, I tell myself. I do that little winding-back-and-forth trick cyclists do. I stand up a bit to give myself a bit more leverage. I take advantage of any chance to get a little momentum. I even have some breath prayers I occasionally use to focus my energy and efforts.

But it’s not enough. There are some hills that we cannot climb alone.

The crazy thing is, though, some hills that we cannot climb alone we can climb together.

Most of the time I cyclo-commute with another guy, and when we ride together I always make it to the top of the hills. He’s confessed that he’s found the same rule to be true for him. When he rides alone, he’ll often end up hoofing it up to the top. When we ride together, we ride to the top.

It is a difficult, slow, and straining push to the top, but, together, we make it. Every time. 

I don’t ride differently. I don’t breathe or pray differently. I don’t have less weight on my pack. I do everything exactly the same except…

…I have someone else climbing the hill with me. That’s it and that’s enough.

I don’t understand it and I don’t always like it, but there are some hills that must be climbed together.

Developing Community Through Shared Meals and Stories

After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. (Philip Pullman)

Stories and food are powerful mediums for weaving lives together.

On Wednesday nights, our community gathers for a meal. As  much as possible, we try to gather around a single table (at our place, we push three tables together and squeeze chairs close together). Sharing space and a meal allows for a sense of family that is more than nostalgia for an old-fashioned family meals. It’s about sitting in the same space, looking across at people, laughing together, and created a sacred space for life to happen and community to deepen. In a fast-paced city driven by technology, media, and celebrity-buzz, it feels like an unusual occurrence.

Recently we’ve been sharing stories during and after these meals- stories of hope, reflections on our respective journeys, etc. Last night we shared stories of failure and success. Hilarious and heartbreaking stories from childhoods lived far from Los Angeles. For most of us, memories far removed geographically from those gathered around the table. Different experiences, different upbringings, different vantage points. But shared together and offered as gifts of experience, wisdom, and laughter.

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today. (Robert McKee)

There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you. (Maya Angelou)

Our stories have the power to heal, to make the world new again, to give people metaphors by which they can better understand their own lives. (Christopher Vogler)

Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here. (Sue Monk Kidd)

Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact. (Robert McKee)

There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored. (Flannery O’Connor) 

My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours… it is precisely through these stories in all their particularity, as I have long believed and often said, that God makes himself known to each of us more powerfully and personally. If this is true, it means that to lose track of our stories is to be profoundly impoverished not only humanly but also spiritually. (Frederick Buechner)

Reading Crazy Bible Stories Together: Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 4-5)

When I googled "Ananias and Sapphira" I found this wonderful coloring book page you can print out and use in your kid's Sunday School class.

Our community group had a great conversation last night as we read Acts 4:32-5:11 – a passage recounting the early church’s relationship with their possessions and with each other. It is, more (in)famously, known as the passage where Ananias and Sapphira die on the spot after their deception and falsification is made known to the community.

This is one of those passages that can be difficult to stomach. In our context and culture, it’s sometimes easier to avoid reading, preaching, or discussing passages like this in an open forum. There are questions about historicity, questions about God’s character, questions about judgement and divine intervention, and questions about what we do with the rest of the Bible when pieces of it cause so much strife. These are tough questions to answer, so we spent a night talking about it.

A few things we talked about:

• How The Passage “Works” It’s not just a story of two people dying, but is (1) a general description of the community’s actions and behaviors toward one another (Acts 4:32-35), (2) a particularized example of Barnabas living out this behavior (Acts 4:36-37), and (3) a particularized example of Ananias and Sapphira NOT living out this behavior (5:1-11). This is one of the instances where the Bible’s chapter breaks make absolutely no sense, and by separating out something of a “text of terror” from its context potentially makes the passage even more problematic for contemporary readers.

• The Cause of Death Our group was pretty divided on this one. Some felt it was clearly intended as a sign of divine judgment – the death of Ananias and Sapphira was an act of God. Others (including me!) were less convinced since the story does not state outright God’s role in their deaths – and, given the breadth of Biblical literature, it wouldn’t be out-of-place for the writer to do so.

• The Big Sin This is clearly about lying to God (Peter states that pretty clearly), but there’s also a communal piece to the sinful, broken actions of Ananias and Sapphira. Their conspiring, withholding and deceiving were not just personal, private spiritual matters but public, communal statements about authority, possessions, and priorities.

• The Power Play In contrast to the general community behavior, where people would bring gifts to the apostles’ feet for distribution, Ananias and Sapphira are withholding money from general distribution. In other words, they are rejecting the leadership of the apostles and, instead, claiming power for themselves based on their wealth and social status. The story rejects the Pay-to-Play Social Darwinian mentality that Ananias and Sapphira are qualified to lead and control resources simply because they are rich.

• Eden, Round Two The story can be read as a parallel of Genesis 1-3 – there’s an idyllic community where all needs are met but a deceptive longing for power and glory – to “be like God.” The serpent’s words – “you shall not surely die” – are acutely shown to be the ultimate lie when the rejection of Eden (the community of believers) by Ananias and Sapphira is brought into the open. 

• Life or Death Scenario It seems plausible, given the story in Acts, that if Ananias and Sapphira did not die in this story, other less-privileged members of the community would have died due to lack of resources. This story fulfills the Israelite prophetic tradition (not to mention the teachings of Jesus) regarding the rich, judgment, love of money, etc. Whether we like it or not, how we handle our possessions and share those possessions with others is a matter of life or death. Every day, the poor and marginalized literally die because of the failure of the rich and privilege to love God by loving neighbor; this is one story where the opposite happens.

What else?

What’s happening in this passage?

What does it say about our handling of possessions and our relationship with others?

Random and Collected Friday Thoughts

A few thoughts, links, etc. to wrap up the week:

I read and wrote a review of Jo Saxton’s More Than Enchanting posted over at The Burner Blog.

Also on the Burner was part two of my Ecclesia 2012 recap.

Each week our house sets aside one night together where a week where we eat, catch up, hang out, laugh, tell stories, and pray together. We’ve been doing this for 2.5 years now, and recently we’ve started singing a bit. The last two weeks we’ve sung All Creatures of Our God and King. The words were written by Saint Francis in 1225. And they are good:

Dear mother earth, who day by day
Unfoldest blessings on our way,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,
Let them His glory also show.

And thou most kind and gentle Death,
Waiting to hush our latest breath,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
And Christ our Lord the way hath trod.

We had a bundle of people at our house Wednesday night for a “crowded house/oikos/household” dinner. My friend Cory and I cooked up some southern soul food – including my first attempt at Hush Puppies (huge success!).

[vimeo 38617628]