Key Masters for Christ

I'm back everyone!!!

I got back from an awesome summer at camp about two weeks ago.  I realize I did a terrible job of posting over the summer, but I assure you, it was because I was working hard during the weeks and was completely and utterly exhausted on the weekends.  I had lots of fun and adventures that I may or may not tell you about, but now that I'm starting to get my feet back on planet Earth, I should be posting more often.

One thing about camp that's important to know is that it is very easy to tell who's got authority.  You can hear it in their steps as they walk up, and you can see it clear as day when they're in front of you.  This is because everyone with authority at camp has two things:  keys and a radio.  When you hear that jingling when they walk or that staticky sort of buzz from the radio, you know they're important.  When you see them with the radio on their hip or with keys dangling from their lanyard, you know they're in charge.

I often said over the summer that the real goal of the job is to get keys and a radio.  That's when you've reached a whole new bracket of awesomeness.

You want to know what's exciting that I just realized this week?  We've all already got keys and a radio!

In church on Sunday, the reading was from Matthew 16.  This is the passages where Peter acknowledges Jesus as the messiah and Jesus gets all excited and talks about building a church on his rock hard skull or something like that.  Anyway, what struck me as interesting was verse 19, just after all the rock stuff:

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Matthew 16:19 (NIV)

Now this passage (like so many others) has been interpreted many different ways.  Most often it is used in the context of Peter essentially being installed as the first pope.  This would imply that these keys to the kingdom are essentially giving the pope power over heaven and earth and ultimately gives credibility to papal bull and all that . . . [ahem] . . . stuff.  Martin Luther called this the Office of the Keys.  I'm pretty sure if you asked most Lutherans about the Office of the Keys, they would have no idea what you were talking about. 

I will be following the idea that these keys to the kingdom are available to anyone who wants them.  If you can't accept that premise, fine.  Accept that you don't have keys and move on to the part about the radio.  You just won't get to jingle when you walk.

At camp, people are given keys for a very simple reason:  to open things.  Most of the things that are locked up are either dangerous or valuable and, therefore, cannot be trusted to just anyone.  Key Masters at camp are usually more than willing to open just about anything you could want.  In fact, like I said earlier, the reason they have keys is to open things.  It's simply safer to have those things locked up.

If you have been given the keys to the kingdom, what are you supposed to do with them?  Open things!

Usually this passage is used in reference to forgiveness.  If that's the interpretation you want to take, that's fine.  You get to open people up to God so that they can let their sins lose and be free from them.  If you want to take it as the keys to heaven, that's fine.  You get to open the gates of heaven for people by opening their eyes and helping them see God's love.  It doesn't matter so much if your keys open people's eyes, their hearts, or the gates of heaven itself, the purpose of keys is to open things and make others' lives better!

Most Key Masters at camp (I only say most to leave room for some possibility I haven't thought of.  I really think this applies to all of them.) also have a radio.  A radio is important at camp because it means that you are able to communicate with other people without having to go and look for them.  Typically, in my experience, radios are used by people that are lower on the chain of command to ask advice or assistance from someone higher on the chain of command.  And typically, radios are used by people higher on the chain of command to give a job or make a request of someone lower on the chain of command.  I hope that made sense.

Let's think about this.  What in our faith lives sounds like a radio.  It allows you to communicate as though the person is right there . . . an underling asks advice and assistance from a superior . . . a superior gives jobs to and make requests of an underling . . . if you haven't figured it out yet, let me help you:

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."  Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)

Prayer is you radio!

You can call God and talk to him anytime as if he's right there.  You can ask him for advice or assistance.  However, just like with the keys, it is important to share your radio.  At camp, people with a radio are always willing to help those without a radio by calling people for them.  Since God offers everyone a radio, the important thing for you to do is to help them learn how to use it.

Key Masters, wielding their keys and radios like a boss, are some of the most helpful people at camp.  They have the tools to help you in ways others don't, but also have the responsibility to use those tools.  In the same way, you, a Key Master for Christ, have the tools for a relationship with God and eternal life with him.  However, you also have the responsibility to equip others with those tools.

Open doors for people.  Help them talk to their Superior.  Use those awesome, powerful tools that put you in a whole new bracket of awesomeness.

Use your keys and radio.