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.