Ten Ways of Looking at a Piano # 1

As Instrument

The fact that the piano is an instrument should not astound us . . . but it should please us. Not all instruments, after all, are appreciated. The tone of the oboe can be offensive. The range of the piccolo too shrill.

But the piano is pleasing and can produce harmonies that inflict us with sadness, delight, or tremendous joys. The keyboard, that long checkerboard of white and black alternates, can only be mastered by dedication and talent.

The piano sings and, when accompanied by a singer, accompanies. There is always more to this instrument than meets the eye or the ear and each time we hear it, we may be astounded by its music, as if discovered, at the first, by some new fate or privilege of birth. And the fact that all other instruments bow to its majestic voice should give us great comfort. We may, indeed, find ourselves stretched out in the final hours listening to its center note: middle C. That won't change.

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 10

The Best is Yet To Come

Some years ago I attended a high school graduation ceremony at which the principal made the outrageous statement, "Treasure your high school years . . . they are the best years of your life."

I gasped. What a crock. How could a principal, or any rational adult, make such a ridiculous claim or place so much weight upon the high school years? If high school teaches us anything it is this: the best years are yet to come! They are not behind us.

High school is merely a warm up to love, to family, to career, to travel, to parenthood, to service of humanity, to life! Anyone who claims that high school represents the best of life hasn't lived very deeply or doesn't have enough brain power to comprehend life's possibilities and potential.

No . . . the best is ahead, and high school teaches us this. In fact, most people can't wait to graduate from high school. The senior itch is a real thing, and most students are ready to fly the coop long before graduation. The best years are ahead, and most know it.

Naturally, this little lesson of high school is merely prelude to all of the better days of life, regardless of whether we are thirty, fifty, or seventy. There's plenty of living ahead . . . new experiences, joys, opportunities for service. Don't doubt it.

(See you Monday for Ten Ways to Look at a Piano)

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 9

We Can Change

Change is inevitable, and it is in high school that we gain the first hints of this important lesson. A lowly freshman evolves from uncertainty and promise into a cocky and arrogant senior. Acne, which at one time or another plagues most teenagers, blossoms on faces but eventually dissipates in the young adulthood of the upperclass years. A student who struggles in the classroom can also bloom into a first rate student if the conditions are right.

Naturally, it is most difficult to change ourselves. We can change classes (and do), change schools, change friends, and even change directions . . . but changing ourselves is the most difficult and demanding work. High School is, perhaps, the last time in our lives when we make some of these personal changes without undergoing a brain hemorrhage.

We are still learning. Still changing. But we war against it.

The changes we truly desire are first waged in the battlefield of the mind. But change can come. Embrace those changes that can make your life better. Change those things that are destructive. It's what any high school student might do. And might even do without thinking.

Ten Things Everyone Learns in High School # 8

Routines are Important

High school is, among other things, the end of a long road of routine for most people. But many do not realize how the routine has informed and influenced their decisions and their days. Without the routines, they are lost.

Routines are important. Or, another way of putting it, we realize that we need the disciplines necessary to work a job, raise a family, open a savings account, make a car payment, pay a mortgage. Without discipline, none of these are possible to the point of growth, and all things eventually fall apart without them.

We are creatures of habit. But the disciplines we create inspire our work and our paths. Children need disciplines of the parents, too, so that they can learn that they can depend upon the structure and sanctuary of the family.

Many of these lessons we learn in high school, and they can serve us well throughout life. Creating disciplines outside of high school is the key. We have to learn them all over again and create them anew.

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 7

People Need to be Real

High is, perhaps, the last time in our lives when we are truly real. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, however, our goal in life is to become real, to be loved into life, to embrace what is truly our own. In high school we see people as they really are. High school is that heightened sense of ourselves.

Thereafter, in many ways, we begin to wear a veneer that is meant to cover our flaws, paste together our personalities, and hide our idiosyncrasies from the disapproving crowd that offers security, job, acceptance, and pay.

But in high school we are real.

What would life be like, how would it be different . . . for any of us, if we could live as real people? God offers us this . . . an acceptance like no other. This is, in fact, one of the key points of the gospel . . . that God accepts the realities we live with, the realities we are. We need to be real. The world has enough fakes and phonies. There is too much pretense, too little praise. Too many calluses, not enough celebration.

Perhaps that is why "Get Real" has always been one of the most common HS phrases.

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 6

Everyone is Talented

From the Nerd to the Jock to the Goth to the Geek . . . high school has always been an eclectic gathering. It mirrors life. But unlike suburbs or gated communities, in high school we must learn to sit beside and work with people very much unlike ourselves. We also learn that everyone is talented in some way.

There are varieties, of course. And not everyone uses his or her talents for the good of the whole. The thief has talent, but needs to reign in the base desire and use the gift for good. The jock might be able to throw a ball through a hoop, but must learn how to assimilate these skills into a marketable life.

After high school, the talents must either be used, or buried in the ground. Fear can be the deciding factor for many. But the one who uses even the smallest of talents ends up discovering that they are worth a whole lot more than first realized.

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 5

We Make Our Own Happiness

Somewhere inside the hallowed hallways of the high school most students come to the realization that they must make their own happiness. High school is, of course, where most of us work out the answers to the warp and woof of our lives, and the HS years provide enough of the zany predicaments of friendship, sexuality, education and labor to change any mind that is open and willing for amendment.

Happiness is not parceled out in textbooks or reefers, although both ends of the spectrum offer their own pitfalls. In HS we learn (even if we don't recognize the lesson until later) that no one or no thing can provide what we are looking for. AA programs are filled with people who have looked for happiness in a bottle. But there are others who have sought to find it in career, money, sex, or a thousand other "possessions."

Post HS, as the world becomes potential and promise, we can leave behind the deficiencies of our lives and embrace the happiness we create for ourselves. Most of this, of course, will be found in connections with others . . . helping, serving, growing, giving. A happiness given is a happiness embraced.

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 4

We Need a Teacher

Learning never stops, and in every walk of life or every occupation, there are skills and nuances of position that must be learned from the more experienced. We glimpse this in high school, but after graduation, the realities become full-blown.

The form of the teacher can morph later in life . . . some of these teachers show up in the form of drill sergeants who scream obscenities or as demur college professors who invite us over for high tea and lady fingers, but listen we must. In some professions, such as working on deep sea drilling rigs or flying an F-15, failure to learn from the teacher can result in swift and immediate death.

Other failures can be just as devastating to us, whether those failures are financial, relational, or spiritual. Better listen. Better learn. Better find the person who can mentor and lead to a clearer understanding.

We learn these lessons in high school. But sometimes we don't embrace them until much later in life. After all, some pupils are just stubborn. But it's never too late to find a teacher.

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 3

The Relevance of Time

Four years is not a lifetime. Near the end of our illustrious escapade through adolescence we have discovered that this uncharted territory holds enough promise that we can achieve, but these four years are not the crucible in which we will build an education, a career, a life. Decisions will be made, but the rest of life can untie them quickly.

Four years passes, as they say, in something akin to the blink of an eye. One minute we are at the beginning, touting our freshman status, and the next time we turn around we are shouting at graduation. Such are many things in life, including marriage and parenting. We often wonder where the time has gone and how the pace of time has quickened with the passing years.

High school itself is but a brief interlude for most, and there are greater surprises on the horizon following. That is why we learn that the disappointments and despair of these years will soon pass, and why we are offered a world at graduation in which to grab for other brass rings. High school teaches us to keep moving. Time is always in pursuit.

Ten Things We All Learn in High School # 2

Life is Difficult

There have been many over the years who have used the phrase "The Real World" to describe everything that is not of high school or college. The Real World is that which lies beyond, as if, somehow, the walls of academia are a bastion guarding the inhabitants from the concerns and toils of the world beyond.

But high school is part of this world, and the lessons learned in these years are applicable in every way to the future life we will lead. No one, for example, has to tell a high school student that the world is difficult.

Today, the world has entered the academy. Students must fight through the same difficulties encountered in the world around them, including violence, drugs, peers, sexual temptations, expectations, work, and routine. Those who learn these lessons well seem to do the best in "The Real World" . . . which is, of course, the world they already know by heart.

M. Scott Peck begins his mega-bestselling book of the 1980s, The Road Less Travelled, with these three words: Life is Difficult. John Mayer sings about a high school realization that there is no such thing as a real world, just some things we have to rise above. How well we rise, and how quickly, says much about the lesson we have learned during the teen years.

Ten Lessons We All Learn in High School # 1

Be a Friend

Many learn the lesson earlier, and some not until after they have reflected on their high school years: but if we want friends in life, we must first be a friend. Friendship, of course, does not gestate overnight, and the incubation period for many friendships is lengthy. And not all friendships hatch and feather into beautiful swans. Still, there are so many friendships born in high school that last a lifetime, and many others that should not.

But our high school lessons on friendships do last a lifetime . . . even the lessons born of pain or guilt or odd association. Some friendships we outgrow. Others we grow into. Some evolve. Others perish.

At the heart of any lasting friendship, however, is the willingness to be a friend. One must strive to be before one obtains.

This one lesson on friendship lasts us a lifetime and informs many of our business associations, our abilities to move and to adapt to change and new communities, and even our marriages. The heart must be offered first. Those who have no friends are usually lousy friends. Those who have many friends have learned the lesson of friendship and bring value to the lives of others.

High School, if it has any redeeming value, is the crucible of lessons learned which, if we are attentive, shapes much of our lives. Friendship may be at the center of the experience.

Ten Bible Studies You Probably Don't Know # 10

The Storm at Sea (Acts 27)

The book of Acts reads like a compelling novel. But by the time one nears the denouement of this, the second volume of Luke's gospel, one has already encountered resurrections, healings, courtroom conversations, imprisonments, beatings, mayhem, controversies, and a wide cast of characters from every walk of life and persuasion. The only drama that could keep our attention is a shipwreck, so Luke tosses one in for good measure.

It's a compelling narrative, especially since the book of Acts ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, and one leaves the book of Acts sensing that Paul's shipwreck near the island of Malta was, actually, the greatest danger he had faced. Images and symbolisms of Jonah are certainly a part of the intention, and Paul emerges, whole, from the belly of the shipwreck to live another day and proclaim the message of the risen Lord.

Vomited up on dry land by the terrible storm, Paul leads the gang in a giving thanks and lives are changed. (What lives are NOT changed through flirtations with death?)

But the story also provokes questions for the reader. What storms have we faced? What conflicts past and present has God seen us through? What, now, is our response and call? Are we willing to go?

(Beginning Monday: Ten Things We All Learn in High School)

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 9

Dorcas (Acts 9:26-43)

This brief interlude in the book of Acts is about a woman who made all the difference. When she died people responded first with deep grief, then with prayer. Dorcas was restored to them.

Unlike some of the other resurrection or resuscitation narratives in Acts, the story of Dorcas gets smaller press. Here is a pillar of the church, a true servant, a person no one can live without. Dorcas was a cook and host, a seamstress, and servant leader.

We all know the Dorcases in our lives. And perhaps we might pray for a few of them today. It doesn't take long, and often, as the scriptures attest, the prayer of the faithful can restore the sick. Those taken from us might be brought near. And every congregation needs a few of these Dorcases to be the church.

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 8

Ananias & Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11)

Few things rankle our feathers more than having to talk about money in church. It was so from the beginning. But as Jesus taught, money merely demonstrates (or, how we use our money) where our priorities are.

In the early church, as seen in the opening chapter of Acts, private property was sold and all things were collected for the good of the whole. But one married couple, Annanias and Sapphira, lied about their income and refused to give a portion of their property to God's work. Their deceit and greed were their downfall and both were struck dead.

As many Bible commentators have pointed out, it's a rather harsh way to begin a movement built on the grace of Christ . . . but the point of it all may be all the more pronounced because it is in the book of Acts. We tend to skip over this one!

The church without openness, honesty, sharing, caring, generosity, and love for God's work is, actually, not much of a church at all. It's something, but not a church. And God's standards remain high, including our willingness to give all that we can of our income and blessings to God's work. Without the giving, we can't really know the Giver.

This story might also bring a new meaning to the phrase, "Living for Jesus." I'm sure Ananias and Sapphira would have preferred to be martyrs of a different sort.

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 7

A Coin From a Fish (Matthew 17:24-27)

As the old saying goes, there are only two things in life we can count on: death and taxes. And in the case of first century Judea, there were taxes galore. Even the religious establishment, the Temple, had a tax.

Much has been made of this brief gospel interlude through the years . . . Matthew tells it succinctly, with no fuss or muss. Some have taken this account as an affirmation that Jesus was against paying taxes, but the gospel evidence both here and other places suggests otherwise. Others have made of this story a parable about shrewdness. Still others categorize it as a miracle story.

Regardless, Jesus does ask the disciples to pay their taxes, but the end up finding the amount needed in their first catch of the day. The open a fish's mouth, and there is the coin.

Would that paying taxes could be so easy! But, there may be lessons learned.

I regard this narrative as a lesson on expectations. Jesus affirms the disciples and tells them that others are watching. There are always expectations laid upon the church. And it is no fluke that the disciples find what they need to fulfill these expectations when they do what they do best: fishing.

So, the question might be . . . what do YOU do? What do you to BEST? Where can you find the resources and gifts needed to fulfill the expectations that God has placed upon your life?

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 6

The Return of the Exiles (Ezra 1)

It seems that the ancient Israelites were always on the move. They were, often against their will, going places. But in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we see, once again, what happens to people when they have time and freedom on their hands. In these two books (Ezra/Nehemiah) we have two differing vantage points from which to view the return of the Babylonian exiles.

Ezra offers us a picture of people working hard together, rebuilding walls, establishing covenant, dreaming a dream. But the dream goes awry, and soon enough, people are bickering about what it means to be a true follower of God. The vision begins to falter. Ezra, Nehemiah, and a new crop of prophets (like Haggai) step into the mix to lead.

For centuries people of faith have looked to Ezra & Nehemiah as books about leadership. Leading anything is most difficult through change. Differing opinions don't make the task easier. Focus and unity are required.

But the books of Ezra and Nehemiah remind us that no large tasks (of community, nation or world) can ever be accomplished without voice and direction. They also tell us that today is the day when our leadership might be required.

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 5

A New Scroll Discovered (2 Chronicles 34:1-12)

A person is likely to find undiscovered reading material in the books of the Chronicles since, to keep us on our toes, these two books are a virtual lock (and parts verbatim) with the books of 1 & 2 Kings. Reading along in 2 Chronicles, however, we suddenly reach an undiscovered country in chapter 34, where, in a fit of awe and horror and humility, the national and religious leaders discover an unread scroll in the Jerusalem temple.

It has been there for some time, they assume, mouldering in the shadows. Much later in history, it is much as the discovery of the codex Sinaiticus in Saudi Arabia, when a monk happened upon a full copy of the Hebrew testament as he was about to use the scrolls for torches.

The scroll, most likely the bulk of the material that now forms the book of Deuteronomy, was regarded as a "new" or "second" law that had been neglected, but which was now life-changing and thrilling in a new reading.

Such in the Bible as a whole. Reading, even familiar texts, we often discover strange new worlds and hear fresh voices of the Spirit and the church calling to us. We need not create a new Bible, a new translation, or even a new device for the hearing . . . although each of these can help . . . if we are to find the call of the living God in her pages. The scriptures are, and have always been, as Clive Staples Lewis was wont to say, "As fresh as the morning paper."

Just read it. (see you here on Monday with the next five!)

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 4

Ahab and Naboth's Vineyard (1 Kings 21)

Here's an episode that has been craftily tucked into the long, flowing narrative of the Kings. Jealousy, coveting, theft, murder. Hollywood all the way. And yet . . . .

We find here also a story of our times, of haves and have-nots, of rich and poor, of powerful and powerless. The Vineyard represents anything that can be a life, anything that can be taken away in a moment.

One doesn't have to imagine such horrific details to conceive of homes being foreclosed, or jobs lost, or lives. We live is these days. In fact, it is the cheapness of human life today that astounds us, but also causes us to turn a blind eye. The cheapness is widespread. And all things can be taken away.

Ahab and Naboth is no ancient tale. Open the newspaper.

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 3

The Ark of the Covenant and the Golden Images (1 Samuel 5:1-6:18)

The Ark of the Covenant was the wooden acacia box containing, among other things, the stone tablets of the covenant of Sinai, manna from the wilderness, and Aaron's budded rod. Some box. Gold lined, too. For some reason, God chose to imbue the box with special power. People died if they touched it. And the Philistines, the arch-enemies of the Israelites, craved the box.

Here, later in history, long after Moses and Aaron and the wilderness generation have passed into dust and memory, the Philistines steal the Ark, carry it back to Philistia, and are immediately plagued by mice and "boils". Ah . . . another series of plagues. The Philistines try to cure themselves by making golden images of the mice and boils and offering these to their various gods. But nothing works.

Funny, though, for in the Hebrew language the word for "boils" is actually "opheleim" . . . which means "hemorrhoids". Few translations of the Bible have the guts to get this one correct. Most Bible translators shy away from hemorrhoids . . . and who wouldn't? This was long before Preparation H, and it was easier to pray to the gods for relief. The Philistines make their golden hemorrhoids, line them up before the god Dagon, and ask for relief from the burning and itching and swelling. (They were likely sent to an ER in Ephron where they had to wait and suffer further.)

It's a great Bible story . . . one that hits home in modern times and is perfect bathroom reading material. Lessons? Don't steal, and make peace quickly. Otherwise, God might just kick you where the sun don't shine.

Ten Bible Stories You Probably Don't Know # 2

The Waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:1-13)

You don't see water gushing from a rock every day. At least not in the desert. But God had been supplying a steady diet of rock water for the Israelites along the way. Suddenly, however, we come upon this narrative in the middle of the book of Numbers and everything changes. God tells Moses where to find water, Moses taps a rock, and suddenly all bets are off. Moses, and all of his cohorts including his sister and brother, are expelled from leadership and told that they will never step foot inside the Promised land because of their disbelief.

What happened?

Actually, we can't forget that the Jewish people had these scriptures long before Christians, and even through 2000 years of Christian history and interpretation, there is a wide variation of thought and understanding about what happened at Meribah.

Some point out that Moses did not follow God's commands specifically. Others see here a microcosm of the people as a whole (but it's the leaders who must be bear the brunt when the community fails). Others see this story as an example of leadership gone awry, or burned out, or used up (time for another leader!). And still others notice that Moses fell back into the "habit" of tapping rocks for water, when God had asked him to take a different approach.

Regardless, these lessons are still with us today. Leadership is important. Leaders do need to change from time to time. Communities of faith can be faithless. And we can never forget that God always wants to do a new thing.