Occasionally, our budget at the camp I direct each summer allows for an outside speaker for chapel services held during staff training week.  Like most years, though, our budget for speakers this year only covers the weeks we have campers present.  Therefore, I once again have the privilege of being the speaker for my counselors.  I don't mind, and I hope they don't either.  In some ways it's actually good as I can do some vision casting and address things that inevitably come up each summer.  Since we have known most of the staff for years, there is also a relationship present that allows for more intimate services than if I were a stranger.

So last night, our second night of staff training, I was talking from a variety of passages that tell us that God delights in us.  I was building upon a sermon by Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber that I had read to them on the first night. (See that sermon here.  It is well worth reading:  http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/09/25/sermon-snot-nosed-children-insecurity-and-lap-god  )  I was emphasizing with them the overwhelming reality of a Creator who wants to be our father, our Daddy.  Because of that, I said, He wants us all the more to come "sit in His lap" when we are broken.  He knows we struggle, fail, rebel and act selfishly; and while that's not permission to sin, it is a reality that we need to stop pretending doesn't exist.  He delights in us bringing our hearts to Him and saying, "Daddy, it's broken.  Can you fix it?"

I spoke about Psalm 51, where David writes, "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit."  What a weird thing to delight in.  But it puts everything back into perspective when we bring our broken heart to Him.  We are admitting our helplessness and God's sovereignty and goodness. Prior to that statement, David said something incredibly radical for his day and culture.  He wrote, "God does not delight in our sacrifices or burnt offerings."  This was during the Old Testament.  The religious life of the Jews was centered around performing sacrifices.  For him to say," God does not delight in sacrifices" must have seemed like heresy.  I told the staff that this would be like saying today, "God takes no pleasure in baptism."  And in truth, I could have brought them to the pool last night and we could have baptized each other all night long.  This would have brought no pleasure to God at all.  But a heart that is truly submitting itself to and identify with the death and resurrection of Jesus is a sacrifice that God will "in no way  reject."

 So,while stressing the relationship aspect of the Christian faith as opposed to the empty striving to "be good enough" through our efforts, I said, "Rules don't work.  You all know you are younger than me, smarter than me and there's more of you.  You could break any of the rules at camp this summer and probably not get caught.  But hopefully my expectations are based on the love and truth of Jesus, and you see that and strive to please Him."  

Actually, when I first said," "Rules don't work, " I was interrupted  by a cheer from a young adult counselor in the back row.  It turns out it was my daughter, Naomi.  I responded to her cheer with," That's my girl!"  Not that she's a rebellious woman or that I've raised her to be an anarchist.  But the fact is, if the Bible had a subtitle, it could be "Rules don't work, and they were never meant to."  God wanted relationship with Adam and Eve.  There was one rule that, for reasons I can't explain, was for their own best interest.  Yet the problem wasn't that they broke the rule about the forbidden fruit.  The problem was their hearts desired something they couldn't have and shouldn't strive for. They wanted something other than a friendship with God. 

What sets Christianity apart from all other world religions is that, although our moral codes are all very similar, ours exists not as a set of rules to strive to achieve, but to show us how far short of the glory of God we fall.  The rules don't work.  It is precisely then that God delights in nothing more than us crawling into his lap and saying, "I broke this and can't fix it.  I need your help again."