Attitude

 From an adult student:  "Our attitudes cannot be situational.  They must come from deep inside of who we are, otherwise, we are just pawns - victims of our circumstances.  This is life-diminishing."

Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.  Though he was God, he did not think it was his place to seize that role as an opportunity; he did not cling to that identity for his advantage.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, took on the humble position of a slave and submitted to being born a human being as he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.  Philippians 2:5-8

While Christ understood who he was, he also understood what his role was while on earth.  He came to save the least and the lost and could only do that by joining the community of humanity.  I wonder if it was a devastating loss just to leave heaven and become human...but he didn't stop there as he embrace his path and his human end, all for the cause of God's people.

Have that same attitude.  The Greek word is phroneo.  It means to be wise and mindful of one's role.  And it means to set one's affections and determinations to direct one's mind and actions toward the right cause, towards God's cause.

To do so based on knowledge and commitment of what God says about us removes us from the whims of the world.  We won't be blown this way and that, but can stay steady, firm on the word we get from God.

Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.  He understands because he faced those same tests as we do.  Go to him and find grace to guide and help you when you need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16

Psalm 51

Here's my rendition of Psalm 51:

Look on me with a heart of mercy, O God, in line with your great compassion (fondness, mercy, cherished as if "from the womb").  Wipe away my sin and any consequences thereof.  Thoroughly wash me (cleanse me and purify) of all my sin (and my sin nature.) (Take away the consequences as a symbol of my return to purity.)

For I am fully aware of all I have done wrong and my guilt is there staring me in the face.  It was against you and you alone that I have sinned...and I did it right in front of you.

You are right:  when you speak, when you judge, your judgments are based on just causes and pure motives.  I, on the other hand, was guilty from the day I was born, a sinner from the time my mother became pregnant with me.  Despite my bad beginnings, you want desire and take pleasure in the following:

• faithfulness
• truth - in my testimony and in my judgment
• reliability
• truth - portrayed in ethical and religious knowledge.

And you want these things throughout my being, imbedded in who I am.  In those deep, unseen places show me wisdom.  Cleanse me of wickedness and I will be clean.  Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.  Let joy and happiness be my song so my bones can dance with delight.  Erase my guilt from the record.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew my spirit and sense of being so that I am steadfast and stable in who I am with you.  Do not throw me far away from your presence and do not remove your Holy Spirit from me.  Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by you; let your willing Spirit sustain me.

When you do, I promise to teach rebels your ways and help sinners find their way back to you.  My tongue, which once was used to tear down, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just you are!

O Lord, pry open my lips that this mouth will sing joyfully of your greatness.  I would surrender every prized possession...but you aren't interested in such sacrifices or burn offerings.  Instead, the sacrifice I offer is my broken spirit, one that honestly regrets the past.  This, you love and accept.

Real Life

 God's purpose was for the nations to seek after him and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him - though he is never far from any one of us.  For in him, we live and move and have our being.  Acts 17:27-28a

It is where I "live and move and have my being" that my core values and purpose are revealed.  It is not whether I have religious learning, but rather whether I can search and seek God in the center of the life and the community where I live.  Finding God provides real life and energy to interact with creation and live meaningfully, having an impact on it all, even on myself.  This God-given life can "move" me internally and externally.

This provides me with transparency because my source and vision can easily be seen and makes me easy to trust.  This transparency, this filtration of ideas, action and life (without dualism), leaves no room for inconsistency.  This is where "core values" emerge.  They are enduring and consistent, augmented with power and placement through the Holy Spirit.

When spoken well and lived consistently, my beliefs are reassuring to the doubtful and questioning.  A consistent set of priorities can emerge for myself - not just "meaning" but also movement towards God for whom I am in contact.  This is where true life lies, enmeshed within an expanding and growing relationship with God within and expanding and growing relationship with others.

You are Enriched

 I (Paul) always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Jesus Christ.  Through him, God has enriched you (your life and community) in every way  - giving you words and words of knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true.  

Now you have every gift* you need as you position yourself and eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from blame when he returns.  God is faithful!  I Corinthians 1: 4-9

Let's expand on this word "gift."  Translators say, "spiritual gift," but even that translation doesn't give credit to this "gift" word.  In Greek, it is charisma.  Strong's definition calls it a "miraculous faculty," including characteristics of deliverance or spiritual endowment.  The expanded definition says it is, first, the result of faith in Jesus Christ, and, second, includes extraordinary powers enabling a person to serve in grace and (divine) power operated by the Holy Spirit.

Wow!  That's a confidence-builder!  That should give us a new strength to live for and serve Christ.  This means we can live out of strength and know that we are gifted with the right words and the knowledge to apply them.  That strength is a humble confidence in the power that the Holy Spirit brings to us to use the talent, knowledge and experience given by God for the causes of the Kingdom.

Notice that "I" am neither the cause nor the beneficiary of that strength.  The Holy Spirit enables me for purposes way outside of myself - the Kingdom of God.  Humble partnering with that Spirit and with others also enabled can complement partnerships so that all our life stories can confirm the life story of Jesus Christ.

I know that God-given strength can be leveraged to overcome my weaknesses in several ways.  That strength can be used to inform and transmute my lesser talents.  It can be used in partnership to learn how others use their given strengths.  It causes me to look on the "other side of the coin" in any area of weakness I hold/live with.  (I have taught that in every strength there is weakness and every weakness there is strength. i.e. strength can either be used for good or for evil.)

Ultimately, I am to always keep in mind the goal:  to equip others for a new life in Christ and to participate in ministry for the build-up of the body of Christ, earmarked for unity.  While I benefit within the community, the benefit ultimately is for God to finally be reunited with all of his creation.

The Blessed Community

 How are you blessed by the community around you?  Have you ever experienced the "Blessed Community" that is mentioned by several Christian authors?  How does the Christian community bless those in proximity?  Do Christians show up as people who bring comfort and joy to a hurting world?  Even to those within the community?

I have expected to find a developing kinship with "known" Christian circles in my life (church, meditative groups, etc), but as my geographic horizons continue to expand, I revel in how God is revealed so quickly by those who know him.  (Emphasis on "know" and not "know about" him.)  This fellowship to which I belong is often revealed in unexpected places, too.

Once when I was with people operating within a meeting of state-wide providers in the alcohol and drug treatment field, I listened to men speak about their work.  "This is God's work, you know," they said.  I smiled to myself.  Later a man, who worked in the prison system helping inmates receive treatment was telling me about his call and mission within his neighborhood church.  How easily these conversations developed!

When I have moved various places around the country, I am surprised by joy at the easy access God's people allow into their hearts and homes.  On one of my first days in California many years ago I had locked myself out of the house during the day.  I went to the mom-next-door at home with six children and asked to use her phone.  (That dates this event - pre-cellphone.)  It did not take five minutes of conversation to reveal we had a common bond in the Lord.  What might have been a five-minute conversation turned into a praise time of half an hour.  What might have seemed like a lonely venture into a faraway land began to feel like home with my brothers and sisters living next door.

I was once sitting in a court room waiting for a judge to pass sentence on my son.  When the judge saw me, he asked my son who I was.  It did not take by two questions on the judge's part fo reveal we had a common bond in the Lord.  The judge sent my son out of the court room and called me to the bench.  We had a lively discussion about seminaries around the state of Ohio (I had gone to one) and both our Christian calling and work.

How did this happen in less than five minutes?  Because God binds people together in unity.  We, as a fellowship, are easily recognizable.  Our love and compassion is front facing.  We are found!  

Being part of the fellowship expands my horizons, gives me comfort and care, and makes it so I really never feel alone.  God is present in these souls and there I get touched.  It makes me crave being present for others, so they never have to feel alone either.  It is an amazing part of the blessed, abundant life.  Sometimes I am overwhelmed at the newness of it:  at first, feeling guilty because I should have known and, then, aware that God is like that - beyond all expectations and ever new.

Truly his mercies are new every day.

Getting Ready for Change

 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.  Proverbs 16:9

All of us have wanted to change something in our lives.  We make plans; we get information and tools and learn what must be done.  If we are smart, we engage community support in the area of change we need.  I propose, though, that we miss the most important element in the process, which can sideline us if we don’t attend to it.  We miss being ready for and ready to accommodate the emotions of a change process.

How do you feel about the problem?

How do you feel about feeling that way?

How do you feel about problem-solving through this particular problem?

How do you feel about feeling that way?

How might you feel about achieving success?

How do you feel about feeling that way?

This is why we often fail:  we don’t honor those feelings let alone navigate them, which leads to failure as we abandon the process because we are so uncomfortable with the feelings that attend change. 

I know all have done it because I know that people know what to do … but do not do it. You have seen it; you have done it;

 What happens is that we are faced with new information that doesn’t fit our scheme at all!  The superficial facts and acts seem obvious enough, but the emotional construct needed to make change feels daunting.  We don’t know how to let our stomach hurt.  Part of the solution is to learn to stay uncomfortable when we are solutioning.

In faith practices, discovery and growth  is sometimes called “liminal” spaces, the spaces of waiting for change.  Traditionally, the liminal space is the space of transformation.  It’s a waiting area filled with anticipation, disorientation, uncomfortableness, maybe even fright.

The extreme example is the Saturday after “good” Friday.  Jesus is dead and the disciples have no idea what is happening.  They don’t know that Sunday is coming, and they are in a terrifying space of reorientation…and towards what future, they don’t know.  I can only imagine what that 48 hours was like, but I imagine the room was flooded with dark emotions of grief, fear, despair.  I imagine the sobbing and wailing.  I imagine the ferocious need to save themselves, yet their future seeming to be in complete disarray. Their lives had to go on, but how?

How does one solution in the midst of pain?  Could it be possible that those dark emotions could be teachers or guides?  Could the primal howl of existential suffering actually be healing or transformative?  Have you ever screamed out of sheer frustration or fear?  What if that was healing?

In a larger sense than when we are in a liminal space, the disciples had to face  how to navigate not just next steps, but new identity and purpose.  All they held true had collapsed (although we know Jesus would reorient that collapse).  What if, in less terrorizing moments comparatively, that is true for us as we make change?  What will we become?  Can we let Jesus reorient our path (determine our steps)? What will that liminal space teach us?

Squint ahead and see that God has determined our steps.  He knows the way.

Psalm 39: A Lament on the Brevity of Life

 (My version of Psalm 39)

I promised myself:  I'll be careful on life's journey not to sin with my words.  I'll seal my lips when wicked people are around.  I did keep my mouth shut.  I had nothing to say - not even anything good - which grieved me more and more.  I felt my heart become hot inside me as I thought on these things.  I was furious (with myself?).

Eternal One, let me understand my end and how brief my existence is.  Help me deal with myself by realizing that my life is fleeting.  Why torture myself like this?

You have determined the length of my days and my life is nothing compared to you.  Even the longest life is only a breath.

Selah

(consider this) 

In truth, all journey through life like a shadow (analyze that!)  We busy ourselves accomplishing nothing (lasting or of real value), piling up assets we cannot keep (or are fleeting).  If it is all so temporary (of light impact) , what I am really doing?

You, Lord, are my only hope (for meaning and purposeful action).

Keep me from wrong (for your sake and mine).  I am quiet.  I keep my mouth closed because it comes from you to humble me this way.  Discipline me for my sin.  I am but a moth, which you can consume.  I am only breath.

Selah

(consider this) 

Hear me, O Eternal One, listen to my pleading and don't ignore my tears.  I am estranged from you - a wanderer like my fathers before me.  Look away from me so I might have a chance to recovery my joy/my smile again before I lay this life down and am no more.