Travel, Tiredness & Tax Collectors...

So the weekend was as expected - long, encouraging, yet tiring.

For the uninformed - I spent Thursday, Friday and Sunday at Roanoke College and Washington & Lee meeting with key leaders, speaking with Greek students and talking at their respective large group events. It's interesting to consult with other schools on what the most effective Greek strategy is because schools are soo different than what I like to deem the frattieness of Carolina and Indiana. Not to say it's a bad different - it's just different. So that was interesting, encouraging, and draining at the same time.

In between Kim and I got to check out some Virginia wineries - 3 around Charlottesville and one near Lexington. Despite what you may have heard Virginia really does have some great wines and wineries. My favorite winery from the trip was the Rockbridge Winery near Lex - good down to earth folks, with some great wines - especially the Meritage and the Cab Franc. The house red was pretty great as well. The best wine was near Charlottesville at the King Family Winery. We snagged an '05 Meritage that we plan to age 5 years and enjoy on our 10th anniversary. The question is whether or not I can let a bottle of wine sit on the shelf for 5 years (although we do have a bottle from our honeymoon cruise that has been sitting there for almost 5, although it is a white).

Anyway - o the tax collectores.

The topc I was asked to speak about at Roanoke and W&L was that of our posture in prayer and in the community around us. I spoke from Luke 19 - the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. It's amazing to me how any Pharisees are alive and well in our Christian sub-culture today, even though Jesus spent many a New Testament word warning against them.

In the parable the Pharisee is thanking God that he's not like the guy next to him, or like other folks who do bad stuff. Sound like people you know? Folks who are happy to be in the holy huddle and have no space for those who are not. Great model of evangelism, by the way.

The 2nd character is a tax collector - a dude who probably has ripped the livelihood out of a lot of peoples hands. His prayer is simple - "Forgive me - a sinful man."

Jesus' response is classic:

"the tax man, not the other went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to fall flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

What a statement and what a call. But do we really make space for tax collectors in our lives? And are we really in a place to live out those words of the tax collector? Are we willing to admit that we need that forgiveness too?

I've been extremely lucky to be surrounded by tax collectors all my life - both repentant tax collectors like this guy, and just straight up tax collectors. I've also been lucky and unlucky to live on both extremes of this story - on the side that thanks God I'm not like that guy, but also on the side that is doing all the stupid stuff that the Pharisee just mocks.

I'm encouraged to know that Jesus' heart is in the middle, though - in the righteousness and wisdom-seeking of the Pharisee, but in the humilty, honesty and repentance of the tax-collector. Because that sure is a freeing place to be.