Mark Foreman - Wholly Jesus: His Surprising Approach to Wholenessand Why It Matters Today

WHOLLY JESUS

His surprising approach to wholeness and why it matters today

by Mark Foreman

ampelon PUBLISHING

Boise, ID

Wholly Jesus

Copyright 2008 by Mark Foreman

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Paperback ISBN: 9780981770550

Ebook ISBN: 9780979810442

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Ampelon Publishing, PO Box 140675, Boise, ID 83714

Published in association with Invisible Ink, Inc., Literary Agents, Athens, Georgia.

Cover & inside design: Jared Swafford SwingFromTheRafters.com To order other Ampelon Publishing products, visit us on the web at: www.ampelonpublishing.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I: Why Wholeness Matters

Part II: How Jesus Defined Wholeness

Part III: How Half People Become Whole

I dedicate this book to my spiritual mentor, C. S. Lewis, who snuck past my watchful dragons to invade my castle with Aslans redeeming nature. He taught and modeled for me what it means to be wholly consumed by the Mighty Lion in order to become an agent of wholeness.

For my wonderful wife and friend, Jan, who has shared countless hours and vacation days to allow me to finish this manuscript, I am most grateful. I want to thank my sons, Jon and Tim, for their encouragement and for modeling in the music industry much of what I believe about influencing culture. I am indebted to believers, such as Cassie and Jenny Carstens, Joseph DeSousa, Sameh, Eddie, and others around the world who have modeled transformational Christianity for me. Much thanks to Brent Cole for believing in this project, masterfully editing it and coaching me along the way, and to Jason Chatraw for believing in and publishing this work. And I am grateful for countless friends and loved ones who have believed in this project and, with me, believe that transformed people can transform this world.

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal. Maybe Picasso stole that concept from T. S. Elliotor maybe neither of em said it. Either way my confession is this: I am both a thief and an imitator of my father.

The best parts of me are simply echoes of my dad. Hes still showing me patience after all these yearsstill showing me how to love the folks that insult me. And so the song remains the same: though Im a few inches taller than my dad, he remains a much bigger man than I.

So you see my predicament in writing this forward: I am the shadow asked to introduce the object who has cast it. I am the cartoon asked to introduce the real thing. To usher in his words with my own could be a bit redundant.

So I shall begin by talking about everything that is not written in this book, the things between the lines, the shadows that only a son can know. The early morning surf sessions at Pipes. The late morning philosophy chats at Swamis. Staring at the stars and talking about how quickly time passes. He was there even during the broken times when nothing was right. My dad, to my amazement, has always been the man who wont try to fix me, just love me.

I am so proud of him. Stories I hear of my dad remind me of other heroes of mine. Stories like the time when he gave his minivan to a band who was broken down on the side of the road; hed never met them before but they needed a car. Times when he stood strong and tall in the face of opposition. Theres a friend of mine who said her main reason for belief in God was knowing my folks. No joke. I know what she means though; we see what God is like in the faces of those around us. And though my dad has his flaws like everyone else, I often see God though him, through the things he says and does. And now, through what he has written.

With the word wholeness trapped in the ether of the tabloids, it can be a dangerous thing to write aboutparticularly risky stuff for a pastor. Yet it was The Teacher himself who was deeply concerned about our entire being. He lived and died that the broken would know wholeness. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Blessed are the broken, for they will be made whole.

I have learned so much about this strange, inverse relationship from my dad. I feel like he embodies it better than anyone I know. In some ways this book doesnt do his life justiceits like a bands studio record that cant quite capture the live experience. Though these pages are quite an album in and of themselves, Ive seen the live show all my life.

My fathers music often came to me in the form of an ongoing dialogue. A few hours ago, I had a conversation with one of the most inspiring musicians Ive ever met. He was telling me about a church that had kicked him out, an experience that deeply wounded him. I know what that feels like, to be misunderstood and abused by the folks who are supposed to be loving youfighting for you. Ive had many great conversations with my dad about this. He says the church is like your extended family, crazy second uncles and cousins that might drive you mad. But they are still your family; and they are the only family youll ever get. You have the privilege of loving them.

Yes, the church is beat-up, ugly, and splintered. Even wrong at times. Tele-evangelists, bigots, hypocrites ... yup. Its easy to take shots at the church. So in the age of American individualism and personal salvation, there is the temptation to disown the whole lot and reinvent the wheel. Well start fresh! And yet to think that were going to be the first church that gets it right is ludicrous. Were never going to find Christian wholeness on our own, not without loving the folks around us.

Yes, the church is broken. Its always been broken. We are a body of misfits, losers, misdirected souls who are desperate for healing. But let the hospital never abandon the sick patients; let the church never abandon the broken. The broken are the bride of Christthe broken are our family. We, the damaged souls, are the church.

So in this cacophony of brokenness I often look to my dads words to figure out how to heal. How to grow. How to become more whole. And his words always point me back to The Teacher of wholeness, the only one who can bring peace. The one who came so that we could have whole life, abundant life, and I am thirsty for this life he gives.

In this broken world we face sorrow. We face death and pain. We face the horrors of our own shattered humanity. But our yearning for wholeness is beneath it all; we will be satisfied in God alone. In this longing, I am an immature poet aping God when I try to find wholeness in and of myself. I must continually be reminded to find peace in the Father of the heavens alone.

For this, Ill keep stealing from my dad.

Jon Foreman, frontman for Switchfoot

We are a beautiful letdown,

Painfully uncool,

The church of the dropouts

The losers, the sinners, the failures and the fools

Oh what a beautiful let down

Are we salt in the wound