I love that cartoon about the fan that shows up at all the Super Bowls, with the rainbow colored hair -- holding up religious signs: John 3:16. And the quarterback stands out from the huddle out on the field, held one up that read: "Get a life!" It underlines the difference between a life and a lifestyle. Everybody has a style of life. Certain factors come into play which dictate the manner of life that appeals to us. It is largely determined by our heredity and environment, but also our choices. What we read, watch, and eat? Our hobbies, golf or fishing? What we drive, Prius or motorbike? Where you shop? Nordstrom's or Wal-Mart? Musical preference? Chuck Berry or “roll over Beethoven?” Where you live? Went to school or church? Boy Scout or addict? You get the picture. All of this has to do with a person’s lifestyle. We all live in some fashion, because it’s a means of forging a sense of self, to create cultural symbols that resonate with personal identity.

There used to be a magazine named “Life,” but it was mostly about style. Back in the 80's and 90's the TV show "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous" was popular. I never watched it but I knew about it. Nowadays its “divorced housewives of New Jersey.” Apparently somebody thought we “commoners” needed a standard to compare ourselves to. Because the only way anybody’s life style matters is when there’s somebody else to impress. So people seek out those whose life styles are similar to theirs, then herd together into separate enclaves.

A lifestyle isn’t the same as a life. Big problems arise when people confuse them. A lifestyle changes. Depending on circumstances, it can be adjusted with something as nominal as getting a raise, moving to a new locality, having cosmetic surgery, or getting tatooed. But a life, involves everything about us. You can avoid making up your lifestyle but you can’t avoid making up your life. A life can get messy by one’s choice of style. It’s much harder to change a life than a life style. Included in every life, are those untidy facts, that we'd just as soon overlook -- like problem-drinking, or having to put a parent in a nursing home or a kid having a hard time growing up.

A life style, is like a hand in a card game, which is composed of the cards you lay down face-up, to show your strength. But a life, involves the whole hand ... and what’s in other’s hands. Our lives embody every aspect of who we are, every card we hold, those we show, as well as those we don't show: good and bad, weak or strong, win or lose. At Blockbuster you can rent "Saturday Night Fever," and see the swinging life style of the jet-set. Party all night! Or you can stay up all night on Saturday with your child who “has a fever.” One is make-believe. The other is real life. Big difference. Life styles can lose their luster. If it gets too hectic, we burn-out. And with a sufficient cash flow, they can be improved. But a life can’t be bought. You can’t go to Providence Place and “buy some life!” You can buy a clock. But you can’t turn back the hands. Nobody can sell us any more time. Once it’s spent, you can’t get it back. There’s a finality about living.

The best way to "Get a life" is to take our cue from the One who created it, who described himself as “the way, the truth, and the life." Life, and the love of it, was a favorite topic of his. Remember when he gathered his disciples around a table in the Upper Room? He didn't say I am the "way, the truth, and the life style!" The differences are deep, because it determines whether we live or merely exist. Jesus came to give us life, to redeem us from all the unraveled ends that get lost in the pursuit of some “exotic lifestyle.” The life he gives has to do with more than just our souls. But also our bodies, our relationships, our mistakes. The good, the bad, the ugly. All I gotta say is, it’s a good thing we’re washable!

Jesus talked about "abundant life" (John 10:10). What’s that? Something more than life? Not just a pinch of religion tossed in as a take-it-or-leave-it-leisure-activity. But a life, where every facet, the suffering as well as the joy, is of concern to God. I see a lot of younger Americans experimenting with all kinds of hurtful life styles. But few that make room for church, which is one of the things that helps us keep our eyes on the prize. Their parents of our generation have been too busy pursuing their own luxurious lifestyle and have dropped the ball in regards to the importance of church.

Jesus’ intention, for all of us who want it, is to have not just a life style but “life abundantly.” We're more like the “sons of thunder,” James and John who strived for the good life. Mrs. Zebedee wanted her boys, to sit “next to God the Father up in heaven!” Everybody wants the good life-style. The one where it “doesn’t get any better than this.” But Jesus offers “abundant life.” The tension between a life style and a life is fitting the pieces together to make a pleasant existence and finding in your existence that which makes for peace. One has to do with things; the other, with spirit. One has to do with earth; the other, with God. You can change your lifestyle by going to Madison Avenue. To change your life you might consider going to church.

A lifestyle is about frivolous matters. A life is about what really matters. Jesus said: "What does it profit if we gain the whole world, but lose our soul?" Will it really matter whether I lived or just showed up? What really matters on dying day? When that day comes, who cares about "style?" So we’d better enjoy life now, there’s an expiration date!

Too many people out there are living like life does “consist in the abundance of things.” Jesus calls us to "Launch out into the deep,” to learn how to trust something other than standing on the shallow bottom. Launch out into the deep! Get a life! We’d rather float around on an inner tube. One is a whim, the other is a calling. A life style is a composite of the choices we've made, about the image we want to project. It’s based on fluff and appearances. It can be the baggy-pants-hat-on-cockeyed look, or the Banana Republic look, or Ivy League, or preppy American Idol or whatever. Quantity over quality; mostly glitz, and how much money you accumulate or how you package yourself. But a life isn't something that can be packaged -- because life isn't always about choice. Life will bushwhack you! It will take you places you’d never choose, because the choice is made for you. It can be the government, mother nature, or accidents and detours are guaranteed.

In the epilogue of John's Gospel, Jesus was talking to Peter about his destiny. And if you're Peter, you listen up whenever Jesus talks, because you know that what he says has a way of happening! “When you were young, you used to buckle your own belt and go wherever you wanted. But now, someone else will buckle you down and take you where you don't want to go” (John 21:18). Do you feel the helplessness of that? How out-of-control! The loss of freedom? There is no choice to be made. Someone else will make it for you. “Jesus was speaking of the kind of death in which Peter would glorify God” (V19). If that doesn’t get your attention, nothing will!

What happens on those occasions when life jerks you around? Here’s 33 yr. old Jesus, talking about when “somebody was young!” Ah those were the days! When we were young! We thought we could take on the world. But as the years mount up, it's "you and me against the world!" Because the longer you live, the more you’ll lose control of your life. Who cares about life style then? When you’re fighting for your life, what’s style got to do with it? Jesus is realistic. The day will come for all of us, when somebody will "take you where you don't want to go!” You do it because you have to. When you run into a harsh situation that you can't evade. When reality is too real and you don’t like what you see? Peter’s lifestyle wasn’t even on the radar screen.

When he was younger--footloose and fancy free, yeah he could’ve pulled it off. But once he is older, "he’ll stretch out his hands and taken where he doesn't want to go." This is when we develop the skill of denial, if not before. Denial is dangerous because it allows us to think there are some things that will never happen to us. When you're young, you think you have immunity to bad things. "I can smoke Camels and not get lung cancer." Or "snort coke and not get hooked." "My friends have been doing it for 15 years and they ain't hooked!" "But I'm the exception." Consequences? Old age? Death? How inconvenient! Just a distant prospect looming out over the horizon. So far away. Then one day it arrives. If all we’ve got to face it is a lifestyle, “we of all people are most miserable” (I Cor. 15:19).

It fell to me recently to memorialize our 21 year old grandson. It's one of the hardest things I ever had to do. His young life snuffed out instantly. We never dreamed something like that would happen, but it did. When you lose a life, nobody cares about the style. When something that can never happen to you, happens, that's when you learn about what you’re made of. Everything that has to do with style, gets put on the back-burner. You're cruising along without a care in the world and all of a sudden there's a vulture perched on your shoulder! That’s Peter, that fateful day when Jesus informed him of his destiny. “Being led captive to your own death” isn't much of a life style is it? But offering everything you are to the glory of God, is to have life, and to have it “abundantly,” no matter what else we encounter.

Jesus style of life was servanthood. Not what’s in it for me, but what’s in it for others. He calls his church to live like that, and asked us to take the time to remember, lest we forget. That is what we are doing today, as we gather around the Table with his words in our minds: I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE! And ask ourselves, how can I make my lifestyle more Christian?

Providence Prayers: (5-2-10)
O God, whose ways are from of old yet whose works are ever new, make us grateful for the past and hopeful of the future. Thou are God of all life, and we who have been blessed with human life, are here today to get a better grip on how to live it more abundantly. But our materialism blinds us to our mission, for our church to be shepherds not fishers.

Jesus aimed to show us the way, the truth, and the life, but we prefer our own prescriptions to his. Instead of searching for truth, we rely on denial. He taught us to love, we’d rather win. He stooped to the lowly, we go out of our way to impress the powerful. We’ll settle for the admiration of others than to see Thee smile. Some like him are losing their lives to save it, others take life and lose it.

Equip us to watch over this flock that's been entrusted to our care, the stranger, the sick, the lonely and isolated, the grieving and the successful. Challenge us and encourage us O God, for we need both direction and consolation. May this hour lift all who are downcast by the inexplicable quirks of life.

Grant us what we need to be more like Jesus: a sharp mind, a tender heart, a forgiving spirit, indifference to style, appreciation for the scriptures, a readiness to pray, a clear vision of to act courageously and do what's right. Work Thy will through us, Dear Father. If not; then Thy will be done through others. May it be our joy and uppermost intention to rest in Thee, work for Thee, to become like Thee. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.