Decades later, when I saw these platforms in the Myst computer game, all the old feelings came back.
If I’m honest, the attraction of a tree-house for me was the exclusivity. I could decide who would be allowed up there or not. I’d have a club, and only the oath-taking devotees would ever ascend to our lofty domain. Maybe I would have opened up a chapter of Spanky McFarland’s club from the Little Rascals. (This entry is so dated my spell-checker doesn’t recognize ‘Myst’ or ‘Spanky’!) Standing with my hand over my heart, I would intone the oath with all my buddies –
“I, Bobby, member in good standing of the He-Man Woman Hater's club, do solemnly swear to be a he-man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to and especially never fall in love and if I do may I die slowly and painfully and suffer for hours or until I scream bloody murder.”
“I, Bobby, member in good standing of the He-Man Woman Hater's club, do solemnly swear to be a he-man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to and especially never fall in love and if I do may I die slowly and painfully and suffer for hours or until I scream bloody murder.”
Maybe I would have done that in 1965. By the summer of ’67, I had already broken the oath.
Paul tells the Galatians, we are “all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus … There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” There is no exclusivity. There is no club with special rites of entry. No one has to pass a test, or demonstrate a set of special skills, or prove a unique pedigree. Ethnicity doesn’t matter; social status doesn’t matter; gender doesn’t matter. What matters is what we believe. We believe that at the perfect time in human history, God entered the world as one of us; the wife of Joseph delivered the Son of God. Mary’s firstborn freed us from sin’s prison and rendered us true children of God, with the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts and the inheritance of Jesus ours to share.
Some of the Jews in Galatia still had the “club” mentality. They kept insisting that faith in Messiah Jesus still had to be accompanied by the pedigree and the special rites. Paul was preaching the good news of freedom from religious legalism. Don’t join ‘the club,’ join the family! Don’t inherit the burden of legalism; inherit the Kingdom of your father, God.
How’s the atmosphere, the tone, at your church? Is it heavy and demanding? Is it characterized by a lot of rules and regulations and inviolable traditions? Is there more judgment than joy? More animosity than affirmation? Paul says, “we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.” Set the tone at your church – freedom in Jesus Christ.
(And Lord, if there is a tree-house for me in Heaven, I swear with my hand over my heart, everybody's welcome up.)
Pray: Abba, my Father, I sing for what you've done through your Son, Jesus Christ. You have made us all one through the redemption He purchased for us on the cross. I bless You for the gift of Your Spirit and our glorious inheritance. Help me to lead with joy and in the freedom of grace. Help me to be holy -- not that I might earn my salvation, but that I might celebrate it. Help me to help others get free.
I love your heart here, Bob, and I truly hope you are able to carry this message to the churches with whom you enjoy relationship and have it received with more than the typical lip serviced, 'amen, brother'. How often have we heard that phrase spoken with fervor but no real understanding or application. Keep putting it out there, my friend!
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