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 of fear?  What if that was healing?

The disciples had to face in a larger sense than when we are in a liminal space 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.

An Authentic Human - Jesus...and me?

 Who is this human?  Could Jesus have been fully human?  

To be true to ourselves as human beings, we first have to get honest about our Lord's humanity, too. Could Jesus be more human than we previously thought?   I worry that we have turned into agnostics who spiritualize the Christ to the point that we miss the humanity of Jesus.   I don't intend to overlook Jesus' divine nature, but to integrate it with who he was on earth as a man.  That is our own struggle in reverse, trying not to overlook our human nature, but integrating it with who we are in the spiritual realm.

The real Jesus took life seriously - there were lives and souls at stake; the Father's will was being acted on; there was the seriousness of sin and the cross to bear - but there is indication that he did not take life solemnly.  Yet, he felt human emotion to its deep and demanding end.

Through his humanity, we can be drawn back to the holy, divine Jesus, who today still longs, understands and has compassion for us.  Through his humanity, we can understand the depth of our calling for community and communion with the Lord and each other.  Jesus spoke explicitly of our kinship relationship to God and of the unifying nature of that relationship.  He understands the need to feel love and belonging, relief and release.

Thus, an authentic Jesus emerges.  Part of his ministry was to be like us, to know what it felt like to be human and to demonstrate emotional wholeness.  With authority, he can lay claim to understanding our lives, our suffering and our joy.

To rest in that claim gives us a chance to claim our own humanity as the very cause for our spiritual development.  I propose that to be more like Christ might be found in being more human, not less.  Let's not live a pious and passionless existence;  Jesus didn't.

Jesus was Fun and Funny!

 

The most overlooked part of the emotions of Jesus is his sense of wit and humor, often evident in his teaching.  Western readers miss it because of cultural difference with the Near East culture of biblical times.  Especially, in Jesus' parables, his metaphors probably brought ripples of laughter down the hillside.  While, we take with seriousness "removing the log from our own eyes" and "a camel passing through the eye of a needle," the crowds of Jesus' day would have loved those sayings for their exaggeration.  The use of such humor in the ancient Near East would serve to drive home Jesus' point, just as comedians do so well today.

His favorite target, though, was the religious elite, and the common people might have howled at his sarcastic descriptions of them.  The twinkle in the eye is not recorded, but, oh so evident, when Jesus talks about the Pharisees "straining gnats and swallowing camels." (Matthew 23:24)  Matthew 23:5 is a Saturday Night Live satire waiting to  happen in Old Palestine:  "They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long" would have brought laughter from the crowd as the obvious word-picture of the encumbrances of showy religion would be easy to ridicule. 

Jesus also used sarcasm, which is hard to capture with the written word.  An example is in Luke 5:30.  With Jesus teaching about the transformation of people so they can receive new revelation and new teaching, he used the analogy of the problem of placing new wine in old wineskins.  Only Luke records the follow-up statement, "And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says 'The old is better.'"  If we don't appreciate Jesus' use of irony and the subtle humor of sarcasm, Elton Trueblood (writer of The Humor of Christ) would surmise this sounds like he just nullified the entire parable, except that we miss the exaggerated tone of voice Jesus must have used.

The moral of Jesus' parable is acutely in the opposite meaning of his words in this statement, but we miss it if we don't understand the potential of Jesus' sarcastic wit.  It is hard to justly record Jesus' meaning, which may be the reason that only Luke has it present.  The Synoptics don't want to confuse the lesson.  Luke may have included the statement because he wanted to show Jesus' humorous way of teaching.

I relate it to the modern-day equivalent when I have said in church board meetings, "We've always done it that way" in complete (but deadpan) sarcasm and with raised eyebrow.  This is a ripple of chuckles and smiles, for the members understand my true meaning.  No one writes it down in the minutes exactly that way because words alone cannot capture my true intent.

So, Jesus was funny.  Crowds followed him not because he was dour and condemning in his lessons and outreach. He used humor to point out truth that all his listeners needed to hear. He understood that "Laughter is holy when it penetrates our pretensions and feelings of self-righteousness."  

Jesus' Emotions Inferred

Emotions and behaviors are closely related because behaviors can tell us so much about what a person is feeling.  We can look at Jesus and his reactions to infer the set of emotions he was having. Jesus did not just "have" feelings and then stuff them.  His being, his body had a response. Such a discussion of Jesus and his emotions helps us access the truth about being a whole, healthy human, too.  Let's look at the most obvious.

Sometimes, Jesus had a measured response, like when he "sighed" before the deaf/mute.  (Mark 7:32-35) Was it a sigh of pity or, as translations show, was it reflective of the strong emotions he felt as he battled satanic power?  Jesus also sighed at the request from the Pharisees for a miraculous sign his authority. (Mark 8:11-12) This sigh was obvious distress over their obstinate unbelief and it is recorded as "sighed deeply," indicating it was a groan.  

Have you ever groaned under the weight of pressure?

Sometimes, inference can be made about emotion given the context and action in which Jesus is engaged.  It is not too hard to infer Jesus' vehement indignation with Herod and the Pharisees' threat to his work in Luke 13:32.  Jesus responds to Herod's threats by calling him a name!  His boldness comes ringing through as he offers this stinging retort:

A few minutes later some Pharisees said to him, "Get out of here if you want to live, because Herod Antipas wants to kill you!"  Jesus replied, "Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow;  then the third day I will accomplish my purpose."

Jesus' expressions of anger do not end with just verbal exchanges.  The picture that John gives us of Jesus cleansing the temple is the most graphic of all the Gospels.  Jesus fashions a whip (notice the forethought) and used it forcefully to drive the merchants out of the temple.  This is a passioned Jesus, demonstrating it with a strong human response.

Take note of the passion in Jesus' weeping, too. In English, "weep" is a passive, tepid word, but it is translated from a Greek word that has connotations of "overflowing" and "sore."  That would be "wailing" in today's English.  Jesus felt such loss over Jerusalem's future destruction and the grief-state of Mary and Martha's loss of their brother that he was overly demonstrative.  Both are examples of deep and heartfelt anguish.

Yet, this Man of Sorrow was never far removed from also being the Man of Joy.  Jesus was responsive to the joy inside of himself.  When filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, Jesus gave thanks to God (Luke 10:21; Matthew 11:25-27).  He greatly rejoiced with the 72 when they returned with the report of their great successes over demons and sickness.  Jesus took particular note of the source of his joy and explained it to the disciples, "I saw Satan falling from heaven with a flash of lightning!"  and properly focused the disciples' joy by adding, "Don't rejoice just because evil spirits obey you; rather, rejoice because your names are registered as citizens of heaven." (Luke 10:18-21).  Then, after the resurrection, I can only begin to imagine how much joy was exchanged between Jesus and his disciples!

Past what is obvious by Jesus' emotions and his responses, we can probably presume some things about Jesus' emotional life by his associations with certain types of people.  The Bible records him eating with tax collectors and "notorious sinners" and that the Pharisees looked down on his behavior.  I assume Jesus wasn't condemning those at the table, but laughing and participating in hearty discussions, especially since the Pharisees were so quick to call Jesus and his disciples "gluttons and drunkards."

Well, it seems like Jesus knew how to have a good time.  He got along well with others (except the authorities).  Hey!  That sounds like me!  How much of that sounds like you?

We are not done exploring the emotions of Jesus, but I want us all to begin to see his human self, so you can see and honor your human self more clearly, too.  

Jesus' Emotions clearly stated

 There is a distinctive and distinguishable feature of humans over and above all other parts of God's creation:  the emotions.  I wonder if in our question to look at and follow Jesus, his emotional side has been overlooked.  In so doing, we minimize his full humanity and our ability to identify with him.

Did Jesus have emotions?  Anyone who has ever participated in Bible quizzing knows the shortest verse in the Bible:  "Jesus wept."  Okay, he shared the grief of the sisters of Lazarus and cried at Lazarus' tomb.  Who wouldn't?  But, did Jesus have a full range of emotions?  Taking into consideration that Jesus was betrayed by a disciple, rejected by his family and community, taken care of by a group of loving women, dogged by religious leaders, partied with notorious sinners, saw serious pain and suffering, how can we ever imagine that he did NOT have emotions and emotional responses?

There are several places in the Gospels where Jesus' emotions are mentioned by name.  Jesus felt "compassion" several times for those in need.  The word in Greek and Aramaic (Jesus' spoken language) means "from the gut."  For anyone emotionally stirred and wrenched by someone else's suffering, you know this is not a trivial emotion.  He felt it physically and it always moved him to action, igniting and fueling his mission. Jesus was also moved to compassion after spending time with God (Mk 1:35-42).  Compassion was a significant and frequent emotion for Jesus.

Jesus also experienced great sorrow, even to the point of depression ("sorrowful unto death") (Matt 26:38)  He seemed to grieve most over things that separated people from him.  He was grieved over the Pharisees' hardness of heart, over the future desolation of Jerusalem and over the grief at Lazarus' grave.

Jesus seemed to take in the full measure of many emotions.  He was indignant when the disciples kept the children from him (Mk 10:14)  "He took it very ill that his disciples should keep the children away.  When he saw it, he was very displeased (or angry or indignant, depending on the translation)...and had a few pointed words for the disciples:  "What do you mean?  Will you hinder me from doing good to the rising generation, to the lambs of the flock?"  Christ is very angry with his disciples and probably isn't using a gentle voice with them.  

Even though Jesus knew and expected the suffering required as part of the redemption plan, that foreknowledge did not keep him from experiencing emotional angst.  He was troubled over the coming betrayal of Judas (John 13:21) and experienced "great anguish of spirit."  Later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, with the betrayal imminent, Jesus was "terror struck and in terrible anguish."  (Mk 14:33)

Jesus didn't just observe pain, he felt it deeply.

While Jesus obviously bore well the title of the "Man of Sorrow," do not let that foreboding title lead us to forget that he was also the "Man of Joy."  John says that Jesus was full of joy that he wanted to give the disciples so that their own joy would be "full." (John 15:11).  This expression of joy has a quality of being more than a felt-emotion but a sure-experience, grounded upon God himself and indeed derived from Him.  Jesus would go on to teach much about this kind of joy.

Surely, not the least of Jesus' emotions was his ability to love.  Jesus loved sacrificially and he also loved people as his friends.  He loved Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  He loved the rich, young man who, in his own way, was truly seeking the kingdom.  Jesus' love for his disciples made his moments with them treasurable.  In Luke 22:15, Jesus "greatly desired" to spend the Passover, a last meal with them.  The Greek form gives it a double intensity such that the New Translation says, "I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins."  

This description reminds me of our own family dinners that have been the setting before a member leaves for college, overseas duty or extended vacations.  No one wants to miss the event.  We long to spend any time together before the impending separation, however short in length it may be.

So, the Gospels, in their overtly stated presentation of emotions of the human Jesus says more about him and us than we might have previous focused.  It seems intense to think of him this way to me.  I was hoping a peaceful detachment from life.  Since it was not so for Jesus, it won't be so for me.

Reflect the Glory of the Humanity of Jesus

In light of the hope that we have, we act with great confidence and speak with great courage. [not like Moses and the Israelites who could not face the truth of God's glory presented...] Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors.  We are being transformed into his same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord reveals it. 2 Corinthians 3:12, 18

Oh, to reflect the glory of the Lord!  That is what we are called to do now that the "veil is lifted."  What is the image of the Lord we will reflect?  Paul says in verse 16, that this veil is lifted by the Spirit, which becomes present in such a way that there is liberty:  freedom to be.  Maybe freedom to be fully human and divine?

How often Christians have been challenged to be like Jesus, to seek his way! While we have looked intently at Jesus' divinity in that call, we sometimes fail to look at the breadth (fullness) of his humanity.  It is hard to reconcile the divine Jesus with the human Jesus, who spent time with children, women and notorious sinners. We forget to look at him as a person with daily, physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  We forget to look at his relationships with others.  Our Jesus - as the suffering servant, facing accusers or praying into the night - can seem far from our human capability and experience, such that we don't even try.  

We, also, forget to look at the passion which drove him.  Yet, to properly understand ourselves, it seems necessary to look more closely at Jesus' humanity, for, like him, we are a reconciliation of the spiritual and the human, especially now that the "veil is lifted."  We may be surprised to find that in our search to relate and identify with our Lord, the solution may be found at our own fingertips:  our humanity.  What if to be more like Jesus might be for us to be more fully human:  a Spirit-revealed and Jesus-modeled human?

Was Jesus Real(ly human)?

This begins a series on the humanity of Christ.  Christians have long sought the divinity of Christ, often to the neglect of his humanity.  Even worse, we have done it to the point of misrepresenting what it means to our own humanity:  we neglect it, too.

Jesus' teachings were great, but my childhood picture of the pious, passionless Jesus was just too hard to identify with.  The image of Christ, on a picture on the Sunday School wall holding a sheep, was far too restrained for me. As a result, I once avoided looking at Jesus too hard, especially in contrast with my own energetic and enthusiastic humanity. 

I preferred Pauls' style:  raw and reckless.  Like the bumper sticker my friend said described me, "I tried to contain myself, but I escaped," Paul could not be contained.  He was bold and brazen.

This distorted view of Jesus' humanity I also heard spoken by a man in my Sunday School class, "Didn't Jesus ever have fun?"  He, too, was looking for a Jesus with whom he could identify.

Then I discovered the retort Jesus had given the Pharisees in Luke 13:32.  He called Herod a name!  And he called him a bad name, for his era.  I checked several translations and the original Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic.  It doesn't mean "sly or cunning," but rather is an idiom for being a "lowlife."  It was an intense slur.

This was not my childhood, passionless Jesus.  Here was a man calling Herod "out."  I became determined to find out who this Jesus, this man really was.  I knew him as the Messiah, the Holy One, the Son of God, the Savior, but I wanted to know the man, because I knew that in finding him, I might understand myself and my place with him better.

In the likeness of God.

God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" ... so God created them  - male and female. Gnesis 1:26a, 27 

Much debate has arisen through the ages of what it means to be "created in the image of God."  Even Adam and Eve struggled with their creatureliness being so likened to God that they desired to actually be "like" him.  People at the time of Babel wanted to reach heaven of their own accord.  Many rulers of modern times claimed that kingship gave them god-status.  Even today, people struggle with the same concept, idolizing themselves.  Yet, I have made a discovery:  There is a God and I am not him.

People have a dangerously limited understanding of themselves.  Embedded in us are disturbing contradictions of good and evil.  We can get hung up on seeing our fallen nature, giving up on the original intent of the image we bear.  What is the inherent nature of humanity given these dichotomies?

The thing that God gave us was free will, which is actually one of the features of His image that we hold.  The problem is that we often forget with freedom comes responsibility, and responsibility to act comes with consequences.  We cannot get rid of the consequences no matter how hard we try.  God will not let us.  

Free will is what has plundered nature and humanity into a spiraling degeneration that is disturbing and incomprehensible.  We even fail to see its criticalness to the salvation process.  Let's cut the crap.  Sin, free will leading away from God, is bad.  People have struggled against and danced with sin for all of human history.  Yet, God's intent was for us to participate and have responsibility to participate, changing the consequences of our lives and the world.

We are equipped and empowered to join with God in order to participate in his work.  It is not a passive, introspective relationship we have with Him, but an active and consequential relationship.  Like Jesus, who was Word and work, so we are called to blend truth and action.  Free will can cause us to do so enthusiastically.

We are called to preserve and care for nature (Genesis 1: 28, 29); to do justice and show compassion (Isaiah 56: 1, 2); to share in the suffering of others (Galatians 6:2); to use personal and divine power to fee the enslaved and oppressed (Isaiah 1:17) and to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).  There is no confusion on these themes, strewn throughout both testaments.

We have a chance to be "like" God when we embed ourselves in his truths about us.  When we finally realize that we can use our endowed characteristic of free will for good and not for evil. 

Pray without Ceasing

Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances.  For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I once struggled with "without ceasing" when it came to prayer.  One of the meanings in the Greek is "incessantly."  That seemed such a demand until I redefined and readdressed my prayer habits.  It was actually Brother Lawrence, a French religious "brother" (the monastery wouldn't allow him to become a monk) who wrote of the presence of God in his mundane work of leather-working and cooking for other monks.

Some people benefit from structure and a plan for prayer, but given my own over-structed and over-planned life, Brother Lawrence's "methodless" praying model melded into my hectic life.  Through prayer in moments caught throughout the day, I was able to capture more time with the Lord, which fed a need to create more opportunities for this communion.  Gradually, more time appeared in my life for prayer as I turned off the radio, took more pauses and sought Him on a deeper, continual level.  I could never ask, whether in busyness or calamity, "Where is God?" because I truly "became accustomed to His divine company." (as Brother Lawrence wrote)

Not only did my prayers become more frequent and internalized, but I also began to pray for others at the moment I interacted with them.  Whether I did that silently or voiced, I prayed in the moment.  The benefit was that I became better at intercession because it met needs at the point of contact and held me accountable to pray for people regularly, rather than put them on a prayer list that was sometimes forgotten.

It was at this point that my faith became more than believing, to which Brother Lawrence would concur: "For the soul...calls out to Him easily and effectively...until able to say, 'I no longer believe, for I see and experience.'"  Proof of a living God comes from interacting with Him and feeling His very presence.  This, most of all, is what I desire to have others know.  Only then will the Christian life come alive to where worship is vital, hope is real and obedience is a response to "that sacred fire of love," which lively interaction with God provides.

Divine Power

 [Jesus'] divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these, he has given us his great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature... 2 Peter 1:3, 4

This is a heady promise:  to participate in the divine nature of God.  Since Jesus was the divine manifested in the human, we now share those divine characteristics with him and not by being less human, but rather fully human. To think that the sanctity of the human person is embedded in my humanity is huge!  To know ourselves, our true calling, our ultimate and basic identity this way is intimate and demanding.

Do you know who you are?  Can you sense your status with Christ, joining in his divinity?  I think to explore this is to seek God and find God through our own personhood - body and soul.  When God's Spirit takes up residence in the soul, I can know Him and myself even better.  Thus, believers are inhabited in the divine as much as by the divine. Often, we speak of the God-shaped hole in our being that only God can fill.  (Is that bit confining of a definition for God?)  Is it also that there is a me-shaped hole in God and I enter his heart?

Could this be the "mirror that we now see dimly" to which Paul referred?  Could our own reflection be the very thing we need to see clearly so that we could see what of God is reflected in us?  Would I dare say I am partly divine?  That would be incredible!

To apply this incredulous line of thinking for myself draws me to a growing sense of love for others, who also hold the divine in them.  That would change my approach to all believers, if not all of humanity.  The sanctity of the human person is an idea that comes from God, made clear by Jesus embracing his role as human.

Be

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

In but not Of

[As Jesus prays for his disciples] I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer, though, is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world I have sent them into the world, sanctified in the same way I was sanctified. John 17:14-19

Here is the task:  try to understand what it means to be in the world but not of the world.  In Christian history, many tried to remove themselves from worldly or secular activity by escaping to the desert, living separately from each other and world activity.  Given that the world offers so much suffering and temptation, it's easy to see why so many took this directive to not be of the world to be an escape clause. 

Clearly, though, Jesus does not ask his disciples to be removed, but rather to live in the world but not be of it.  In fact, in this prayer, Jesus names the way for this dichotomy existence:  sanctified in the truth.  Sanctification is to be made holy or consecrated...in the truth, especially in the truth of God and the realities and duties of being a person of God.  This is the ultimate exercise of our lives.

How does one stay out of this world when one is enmeshed in the daily struggle of the pressing conflicts and demands of a fallen world?  What corruption do we need to become aware of and avoid? 

Henry Nouwen, spiritual author and advisor, discusses this corruption by calling attention to what he calls "social compulsion:  "a dangerous network of domination and manipulation in which we easily get entangled and then lose our soul."  Those are strong words...dangerous...domination...entangled...and they described corruption very well.  To use a current metaphor of technology (phones and computers), when files are corrupted, they are inaccessible and unusable.

There it is!  We can't control the social construct, but we can do those things which preserve our soul, namely,  to stay connected and usable by God.

I admit that the world offers its domination as manipulation in order to birth success-laden lies which derail our effort to stay connected and usable by God.  Let me name some:

     when material goods and wealth no longer serve me or God, but rather I serve them.

     high-performance mentality that puts me first (above God) and fed by others' approval (instead of God).

      feeding my sensual mentality over my spiritual mentality

      suffering, by any cause, which interrupts my peace and patience

      blessing, which I seek with greater exuberance than I seek God.

When cares and pleasures, obstacles and challenges can entangle me like fishing lines, I tend to focus only on the knots created by them instead of the Lord.  Yet, I am called to live in this messy, entangled and stimulating world, ever present and available to the Lord.  Can I stay engaged and attached to the body of living:  my own and whole body of humanity and not lose my soul?

I propose that we discover to seek no more or less than God's offer of life in the world, learning how and then leading others in how to stay focused on God and sanctified by His truths - ever dependent upon his truths and not the world's.  

       

Grace is given

 [From John the Baptist]:  Out of his fulness we have received grace in place of grace already given.  For the law was given (first grace) through Moses; (second) grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  John 1:16-17

Each form of grace had a purpose.  What form of grace is given through Jesus Christ?  There is saving grace (which the law could not do), but there comes more for the believer.  Then comes living grace.  Julian of Norwich describes what I think is living grace:  "...we, soul and body, are clad and enclosed in the goodness of God." Sometimes I fail to see that grace is expressed in goodness.  Some because, when I am unobservant and obsessive, I fail to look at life as grace-covered;  I look at the pain, suffering and failure instead of acknowledging the wholeness, healing, success and victory that has emerged.

I am challenged to think about resting in the wholeness, healing, success and victory in order that I may receive the full rest and sense of grace God has given me.  I do not usually wait around for the full effect of rest and grace.  I am usually three steps, time zones or projects ahead.  

Could staying in the moment be the very joy Jesus wants to experience WITH me such that He can have delight in my soul?  Could staying in the moment be that ultimate communion Jesus wants with me when we are not wrestling over some issue, but rather just looking together at what He has done?

Surely, this causes the devil sorrow to find us at peace and resting in Christ.  What was his sabotage, trickery or attack is instead turned into God's goodness and joy for us.  I could extend the devil's time of sorrow and frustration by staying in the moment of exultation over God's grace.

So, I will seek today's victory and celebrate what God has done!  I feel the surge of self-respect, knowing God has joined me in success.  I relax in areas of healing, thankful for God's touch.  I rest and am content in wholeness and contemplate good, knowing it is by God's grace that I can feel, that I can hold to happiness and love, and that He wants those things for me.

More than ever!  Praise the Lord!

#33

 

Though I have been strong

Though I have held on

Though I was the first “go to” for many

And the last one standing,

I know to nurture the child within.

 

She lays in the grass

Dances to music

Swings from the tree

Loves the sea

And chocolate

Laughs out loud

And tells long stories.

 

I replenish her.

I nurture her

And bow low in the care of the God who does.

I will not fail because God will never.

The Holy Spirit has history

 (Samarians) believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ; they were baptized, both men and women....When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.  When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there to receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had "only" been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When Peter and John placed their hands on them, the received the Holy Spirit.  Acts 8: 12, 14-17

(This scripture is part of the evangelizing story written in the midst of a person trying to monetize the new faith and its seeming success.  This I will not discuss, but I want to highlight the activity of the Holy Spirit.)

As a child who grew up on a farm where there were no city lights and older cousins told stories about ghosts in the graveyard and in the hills surround my grandparents' farm, I held a dim (or grim) view of interacting with any ghosts.  Thus, I had NO interest in ghosts, holy or otherwise.  Yet, seated in the heart of my Methodist upbringing was the Apostle's Creed.  Even if I did not know the books of the Bible very well, I did know the Apostle's Creed from memory.  I remember now being perplexed by the words "...and in the Holy Ghost."  Although I do not remember ever being taught about this Ghost, I did know he appeared in my King James Bible.  I understood things about Jesus my brother, God my Father, but I could not figure out how a faith could utilize Casper, since the Holy Ghost would have been friendly, given his favorable mention in the Bible.

By the time I was in college, I had come into contact with people who were using a different language about the Holy Ghost and I began to get an understanding that the Spirit of the Lord was very present for many and that some people insisted it was a mark of salvation.  Even though I had been saved at age fifteen, I know I had received no such thing and was not overly sure I wanted to.  I may have left my ghostly images of the Spirit behind, but the Holy Spirit was given further bad press by being connect with snake-handling, being "slain" in the Spirit and speaking in tongues, all pretty weird stuff to a small town, conservative Methodist.

Yet, I also knew that on some level my Christian walk was shallow and lacking.  I was disturbed by my faith's acceptance of "backsliding" in light of verses about perfection (Matthew 5:48), maturity (Hebrews 6:1) and holiness (Romans 6:22).  While I know that relapse is part of alcohol and other drug recovery, but I don't accept "backsliding" - as it was discussed then - as part of the process of sanctification.  The inconsistencies abounded between the biblical "new creature," my church's teaching, and my experience that seemed to create huge issues of hypocrisy that were obvious. 

Just as obvious was that the Holy Spirit deserved more attention than I had given because the New Testament writers seemed dependent upon the Holy Spirit in their walk and witness in ways than I ever was or had been taught.  I was determined to get in touch with this Spirit.  Surely, the Christian walk had to be something better than the crazy yo-yo life that had become acceptable to too many and was leaving me feeling inadequate and insecure in the faith.

It was the writings of Catherine Marshall that I found myself face-to-face with the person of the Holy Spirit.  Somewhere in Catherine's description of her husband's ministry (US Senate chaplain, Peter Marshall) and his dependence upon the Spirit, the Holy Spirit leaped out and caught me.  It was like the Holy Spirit was saying, "I'm right here!  I'm right here!"  My eyes and heart were opened for the first time.  It was then that I, too, began to trust in "God the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life." (from the Presbyterian confession)

Not everyone thinks the application or reception of the Holy Spirit is separate from becoming baptized or any initiating of the faith.  Maybe, it is when a newly formed faith becomes aware of the presence and possibility of life in the Spirit, that the relationship is claimed.  I just know this:  the Holy Spirit is a very present extension of Almighty God and my brother, Jesus.

Called by God

 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - this gospel God promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.  Specifically, this promise was in regard to his Son, who in the flesh was a descendant of Dave, and who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, as seen in the resurrection of the Christ, known as Jesus. Romans 1: 1-4 

Paul is introducing himself through his relationship with Jesus, with whom he may have only experienced in the Spirit and not directly in the flesh.  Paul took very seriously that visitation of Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Jesus' glory was fully revealed to him on that road in such a way that he was forever changed.

 Although Paul might have seen Jesus, having traveled in Jesus' time and venue, he was, at least, on the edges of the conversations about Jesus, enough that he took on the vendetta of persecution of early Christians. In many ways we are like Paul.  We hear of Jesus.  We hear other people talk about him, maybe some not favorably.  

Some, like Paul, have a spiritual experience with the Christ.  I would propose it is actually the hallmark of being introduced to Christ:  more than what we hear or what we intellectually know, but rather what we have experienced in His presence.  It can be hard to convince others of our experience with Christ, but like Paul, our lifestyles could be the most convincing way to do so.

Paul's turnaround was dramatic!  Once on the sidelines (Acts 22:20) then in the fray. Once a persecutor, then a supporter and leader. Has your experience of Christ changed you?  Motivated you?  Caused you to be either supporter or leader? Our other relationships change us, whether it is being a friend, friend, spouse...every relationship asks something of us.

I once kept a sign in my office:  "What are you going to do about what you believe?"  Maybe it should have said, "What are you going to do in response to your relationship with Christ?"

Life at the Margins

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.  At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.  Again, the goal is equality.  As it is written:  "The one who gathered much did not have too much and the one who gather little did not have too little."  2 Corinthians 8:13-15

I would have once identified as someone at the economic margins:  single mom on welfare, living with abandonment as a family curse.  But generosity prevailed.  Others shared with me, including my family.  This included those who met my need of community and belonging.  God paved a way out for me through education, advancement and eventually wealth.  I bought my own house, provided all my children needed....and sometimes wanted.  Then through re-marriage, more stability came to our family.

I have kept my feet on both sides of the low-resource and high-resource divide.  This has caused my career to stay focused on those in need and kept me from abandoning my post.  There are skills I developed on both sides of the economic and cultural divide, and I share them liberally with people in each.  I provide access and support for people to move from the low-resource side;  I provide avenues and encouragement for people to share the wealth they have in a way that feels productive.  I love it when cultures come together, valuing each others' tenets and practices.

Having both experiences has caused for greater generosity in me to those in need, too.  I don't need it "all" when some don't have the basics.  I recognize that only God is good and his supplies to our household are enough.  I don't answer the world's cry for "more," just enough for healthy living.

"The goal is equality..."  Paul says.  

        isotes - equality, equity and fairness

        husterema - need, deficiency - in reference to poverty, want

I have come to understand what this gift of wealth, position and power is for.  This is my mantra:  "Power shared is power gained." Hoarding takes too much effort; Giving is freedom.  Positioning is stressful; joining with others shares responsibility.  While this obviously includes financial poverty, the stability I gain emotionally and spiritually can be shared, too.  If I gain, so will you...and, in turn, others will gain their needs from you.

God wants to supply all our needs, of which most are deeper and more complicated than just financial.  We are his carriers.  

Praise the Lord!

 Hallelu yah!  (Praise Yahweh)

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him beneath the massive sky!

Praise him for his acts of power:

praise for his greatness - in its multitude, abundance and excellence!

Praise him with the blast of trumpets 

and clashing cymbals!

Praise him with your whole body -

dancing and singing!

Everyone, everywhere, every creature with breath

(and every animal, too)

praise the Lord!

Hallelu yah!

Psalm 150

This is my favorite psalm...and it makes me think that I don't praise very well in church worship.  These actions describe how I act at football games and concerts, so I know how to praise!  We were made to praise! 

What has caused us to eliminate praise from worshiping God?

I looked up all the words translated for "praise" in the Old Testament.  They describe what our praise should look like:

rum - extol and exalt - raise up above all others.

barak - bless - kneel before, congratulate; thank

halal - praise - shine a light on; clearly reveal and make known

gush - celebrate - pour out; belch out

sabah - praise - stroke, address in a loud tone

sapar - proclaim/tell - recount; rehearse; keep a record

naba - eagerly utter

ranan - shout joyfully - cry out; ring out; sing out

t'hilla - praise - a song of adoration; especially a song of public praise

I like old hymns and some modern praise and worship songs, but very few of them do the kind of praise we are called to do before the Lord. I am ashamed to say my greatest practice of praise has been in support of my alma mater's football team.  I love when the ENTIRE crowd sings the fight song, then the football team joins in and sings the alma mater.  The fight song is sung raucously!  The alma mater is sung almost spiritually.  One calls us to the battle; one calls us together.

What would be our Christian, God-raising fight song?  Definitely think trumpets and cymbals!  Actually, songs we sang as children rise to my mind:  I'm in the Lord's Army!  Father Abraham!  I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy, down in my Heart!  These are enthusiastic!  We would have hand motions;  we would march and sing loud!

Then the ones that call us together.  Of course, Jesus Loves Me.  The B-I-B-L-E.  I've got Peace like a River...these draw us in.

As adults, I think we need to be more deliberate in our praising.  Sorry, choir leaders and worship leaders, sometimes we drone on in long-winded, low-affect, not-God-focused songs.  I personally feel a revamp on my praising.

What about a crowd chant.  One side of the pews do one part; the other side responds.  I've actually done that in church (and the football stadium).

Hallelu  yah!

The Wealthy

Tell the wealthy:  In regard to this season of life, don't become arrogant and don't put your hope in your wealth, which can be uncertain (name all the ways), but rather put your hope in God, who abundantly provides us with all things for our enjoy enjoyment.

Here's how:  

• do good (work good, do well, act right)
• be rich (abundant, use your resources) in good deeds (your business, any labor)
• be generous (ready to distribute)
• be ready and willing to share (liberally).

In this way, the wealthy will lay up treasure (Paul's compounding of words to exaggerate meaning - amass/reserve) for themselves a good foundation (first principles/underpinnings) for the basis of actions that demonstrate what you care about and will build toward your expectations.  Then you will have life indeed!  1 Timothy 6:17-19 

Our pursuit of wealth is misplaced, of course, we would say, but in America, in a culture of wealth - accumulation, it is difficult for us to be separate ourselves from it.  Yet Paul tells Timothy, let's reconfigure what the pursuit is.  Truly, we could all agree that our pursuit is the good life, the God life, a happy life... but our culture has taught us all the wrong ways to define it.  We measure the God-blessed life as one of (material) blessing.

I think the original language deserves exploration for this "life."  The word used is "Zoe."  It has literal and figurative meanings when used in the Bible.  Most of all, it means to possess vitality:  the energy for what life brings.  This means that life is full of meaning, passion and pursuit by for the essential and immediate needs (i.e. food) and an ethical pursuit.  What if I pursued ethical standards as energetically as I pursued a good steak or an abundance of my favorite dessert?

To really pursue an ethical life is to get a full understanding of the "why" of life and to filtrate and prioritize values.  Too often we have a set of values that are thin and wavering.  Sometimes we have to exercise prioritizing values which come into conflict with each other.  How does that happen?  I say I value my family and my career...and it is the easiest example to demonstrate values which can come into conflict.  Prioritizing says I know which one leads.

Zoe can also mean life that is real and genuine, especially in devotion to God.  My life's meaning comes from a relationship with God that is lived:  when belief is translated into action and love into loyalty for God.  And not lazily.  A Zoe life is an active and vigorous pursuit of devotion and demonstration of the Triune God.

English translations often translate Zoe into "heaven" or "eternal life."  The original, not so much.  To have the "good" life now, fully is to enhance the "good" for all - those in need, those in our family, the community of believers - and to give as if your life depended on it...because it does!

Now

 Yet, a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.  John 4:23, 24

Now - nyn - in the present moment, in the presence of

This is Jesus' lesson for the woman at the well.  She and her culture had misplaced their object of worship to a place and not a person.  Do we do the same?  Do we cause our object of worship to be a place, like our church, or even something that might seem worship-center, like in nature?  Jesus' lesson is that worship takes place in the heart and in relationship with God.

How do we translate Jesus' statement to ourselves?  Does only the moment matter?  Does only our focus matter?  I want to see NOW as the moment where I understand/plug into the full weight of glory, full of meaning and full of gratitude for having the presence (Spirit of God) with me now.  

I want to find ways to be aware of God NOW - in traffic, in front of my computer, cooking at the stove, in exercise.  I want to capture that essence in the here and now!  The world may careen down its path to some end.  I want to bask in the sense of God's presence now and take in the experience of now.

Can I mentally sit still?

Can I take it in?

Can I love it and bask in it?

My head is ringing.  The list for today is long.  Someone wants to eat.  How can my spirit find the "space" for my soul to connect with the Spirit and her true nature that is calling me towards the Triune God in every situation?

In heaven will there be no passage of time?  Will only the moment matter?  I am going to seek to make this moment be filled with the weight of glory and full of meaning, mostly because it means so much to God.

Amen.