the holy ice cream?

With just a few of us last Friday (7/27/07) we headed off to McDonalds after our gym time. Because sometimes in the summer, you just need to get ice cream (or something cold). So we chose ice cream.

When we returned to the church, I went over a quick devotional on the first part of Ecclesiastes 3 from the new Relevant magazine. Relevant is one of my favorite magazines that writes about God, life, and progressive culture. It is targeted towards young adults but does appeal to a broader age group. I read Winn Collier's Deeper Walk devotional from the current July/Aug 2007 issue. Unfortunately I cannot find the full article online so I'll just go over the main points.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is "a time to weep." There are times when weeping is appropriate, such as dealing with grief, heartache, brokenness. There are plenty fo these things in the world, so it is right to weep at times. However, it must be honest and it must not consume us. Crying does not necessarily mean I am authentically looking at despair through the lens of faith. I could be hiding.

And it must not consume us. If I don't leave room for anything else but crying, then it will define me. If it becomes so overwhelming then there is no room for hope. That is the key in following Christ and encountering grief. Despite what we may see, there is always hope that Christ will come in and "intervene for our good" (from the article).

That is also why there is also a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance, etc. We can find beauty in God's creation and the relationships in our lives. Times when it is so obvious that God is "intervening for our good" that I cannot help but be joyful in Him. Winn Collier ends with this: "Karl Barth said that 'laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.' I believe it. There is deep grace in a holy chuckle."

For more reading, Winn recommends all of Ecclesiastes 3, Revelation 21, Psalm 90, and Psalm 30. My prayer for all of us is to honestly grieve the despair in the world as Christ did, and have His eternal hope overcome it.

blessings