good goodbyes

Taken from someone else's chat...I hope this is legal.

Ciao, au revoir, adieu, ahnyeongheegaseyo...I'm pretty certain every language has a way to signal and mark the parting of ways.

Welcome to the grey area of electronic communications.

Not to make this post about netiquette, but I've been adjusting recently to the fact that most of the people I gchat with (and I don't usually gchat) don't formally end the chat. That's actually somewhat of a relief since I've never been good at that anyway (whether it's on the phone or over the internet, "alright, talk to you later" just doesn't seem as sincere as I'd like it to be). Still, it strikes me as kind of odd that saying "goodbye" could be becoming an option rather than an expectation in daily life.

I bring up this phenomenon not to change people's chatting habits, but because it got me thinking about the place that "parting traditions" (saying goodbye in some cultures, bowing in others) have in human relationships. At one level they may just seem like basically empty social expectations: Do all who say "goodbye" really intend its original meaning (God be with ye)? No, most of the time our parting traditions are done without much thought.

If we go a little bit deeper, however, an argument could be made for assigning nearly as much importance to parting traditions as we do to human relationships themselves. What is a relationship made up of after all? Yes, it's definitely more than what we say to one another. There are the things we do for and with one another. There are also the many thoughts we have about one another. But certainly our relationships are no less than what we say to one another.

Communication doesn't always happen through verbal language. Our actions and even our postures communicate so much. But much communication does happen through the words that bridge us to one another, and our parting traditions have a role in that. Paul writes in Ephesians, "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity...Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:15-19). In other words, our speech does matter. Every word counts.

Every time we meet another human being, we are given an amazing opportunity to love them with our actions, our thoughts, and our words. I encourage you to think about the words you choose today.

*random survey: how do you like to say goodbye? is there a specific reason you chose that phrase/tradition?*

led

"Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped."

- Exodus 4:29-31

In today's New York Times Seattle's very own Eugene Cho was interviewed for an article entitled, "New Fame for the Everyday Donor". For those of you who haven't heard, Pastor Eugene has been spearheading a new non-profit organization called One Day's Wages that's founded on the idea that huge change can happen when a lot of people contribute in small but significant ways. To that end he and his wife Minhee have not only donated their year's wages, they've also coordinated the massive effort it takes to pull together and send out thousands of individual donations to the groups that are receiving them.

Among other things, that takes leadership.

For those of you who know the story, when God first calls Moses to lead the escape of the Israelite people out of Egypt he wilts from the pressure. Although God himself handpicks Moses for this task, Moses is paralyzed by his own shortcomings. He feels so unready for the task, he tries to back away from God himself.

Moses did not feel ready to lead, and he's not alone. Though it certainly offers its rewards, leadership is mostly an unappealing form of service. Not only is it truly a form of serving (putting in time and effort for the sake of others), it often involves telling people things they don't want to hear and exhorting them to do things they don't want to do. Although being a leader may come with occasional titles, accolades, and the warmth of the spotlight, trading all of that for a quiet and comfortable life in which you don't have to think too hard about others makes some serious sense.

Except that you can't make that trade if you're going to follow Christ.

Now I'm not saying that every follower of Christ needs to become a pastor or teacher. There are many different ways to lead, not all of which involve that much getting in front of others. But the very act of following Christ means moving in a direction that not everyone else is moving. It means trailblazing. And if we think that following Christ is the better way, then we're going to have to be leaders in one form or another.

If you are a follower of Christ, take some time to look around. If He's taking you anywhere, he probably doesn't want you to get there by yourself. Yeah, God brought Moses out of Egypt into Jethro's family, but then he called him back so that the rest of Israel could escape too. Yeah, Pastor Eugene and his wife felt so moved that they committed a year's wages to fighting global poverty. But then they went back and called others to follow.

I hope that God is taking you places, especially into a deeper relationship with Him through his son. But I hope also that you take some people there with you.

PS Being a leader, like any form of service, involves some level of pain and sacrifice. Check out the following post from Jon Bloom about why such things are worth it:

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2093_when_you_dont_feel_like_it_take_heart/