Saturday in the park

Though some were not able to make it, one is with the Lord, our homegroup had a fun time today, cool as it was with some rain drops falling on our head- but it was a fun and good time of being together and just enjoying some good brats and burgers.

tired lately

Negotiating life can be challenging at times. We have a new routine which while necessary for now, is taxing and I need to learn to get more sleep around it.

This reminds me of what I was reminded of by Lauren Winner, in her book, Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity. We are humans and part of that humanity is our bodies. Because of them we have to get a certain amount of sleep, eat and drink, take a shower or bath (ha), etc.

There has been at least one version of Christianity that believed that as one grows in grace or in the Spirit, they perhaps can come to the place where they need little or no sleep at all. This sounds to me a kin to a gnostic, unbiblical error, carrying a Platonic disdain for the body which is not a mere shell of our real selves, but a part of our real selves, an indispensable part of our humanity.

In this life we get tired, have to sleep, even as Jesus did in his human life before his death and resurrection, and we die. God's answer in Christ is not some disembodied state in the clouds with celestial harps. It is the resurrection when our entire selves come to a new life in our Lord, participating fully then, in his resurrection.

Until then I need to get more sleep.

becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable

One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn as a Christian is to work at becoming comfortable in my discomfort over issues and matters that seem out of control, externally or internally.

This is dependent on a faith relationship with God, putting my trust in God in Christ, and allowing myself to be interdependent on a brother or sister in Christ. It is certainly an inward disposition I can't control. I'm really uncomfortable and seem to have zero traction in my life so as to be of any use to others or to myself at all. This is when I will end up learning more and most importantly growing more spiritually, if only I trust God through it all, and seek to be open to God and his will. This is not only a vertical exercise with God, though fundamentally it must start there or has to be worked out there, but it is also a horizontal exercise with others. God means us to live out his will in the midst of others, not so much by our isolated selves, though there are times for being alone.

Becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable is part of our training to be godly in a world at odds with this life that is ours in Christ. We shouldn't expect to simply arrive in this, but though it is a part of God's grace to us, we need to work at it prayerfully. It takes time not only in growing in this, but to begin to experience the comfort from God when experiencing discomfort.

So what to do the next time the dreaded discomfort has discombobulated you? Trust in God, be open to God's work. Withdraw some in prayer but don't entirely withdraw from the community of God. I think you'll find what I did today, the Lord is there, he is good and his will for us in Christ is love, no matter what.

What have you learned about this in your life?

further take on first responses

The context of Jesus' story of the last post mentioned the kingdom of God, not surprisingly. The unfolding of the message of the kingdom took those who were outside of the kingdom by surprise and they found themselves saying "Yes" to God and his kingdom. While many of the insiders were not ready for this message by virtue of the fact that they thought they already understood what God's kingdom was all about. But they lacked an openness to God and the message of God concerning this kingdom come in Jesus, who was Messiah, but wanted to be known as such only by those with the needed openness to God.

So my last post took that out of context. It is about our response to God's coming to us in Christ. The danger lies perhaps for those who think we're on the inside and have it figured out. While those on the outside may end up being more open to what God is all about in this world, in Jesus and in his kingdom. We say, "Yes," yet end up pursuing something other than God and his kingdom, while others have said, "No," but end up repenting and finding this treasure.

I wonder how God's revelation to us in Jesus of his kingdom affects me and just what my "Yes" to that might mean beyond what I'm living now, or just what my "yes" is really worth.

first responses

Thank God we're not tied down to our first responses when we are disobedient to God and his will. Of course when we do agree to obey then we need to follow through with down to earth obedience.

Jesus told the story of two sons. The first son refused to obey his father, but then turned around and obeyed him. The second son said that he would obey his father, but then failed to do so. Jesus then likened the repentant tax collectors and sinners to the first son, and the unrepentant religious leaders to the second son.

Too often my initial reactions show unbelief and other sin in some form. When life hits me with the unexpected, especially in disappointing ways, what can spill out of me is not pretty at times, an indicator, all too true of what's in my heart. But we can and need to change and act differently so that we obey God, instead. Repentance is not just initial entrance into the kingdom of God, but it continues throughout our lives as those who would continue to follow Christ and be changed more and more into his likeness.

Of course neither do we want to say, "Yes, Lord," but then fail to follow through what our lips say with our entire lives.

What might you like to add to this?

being present as a special presence for others

Being in Jesus means to be present for others in this world in a unique kind of way. There is no one, as need arises whom I'm not to be a neighbor to. And I am joined not only to God in Christ, but to others who are in Christ.

So in a unique, Spirit-given kind of way, we're a special presence for each other and for all people in this world, in Christ.

Do we really believe that? Do we think that we just don't have the ability or personality to be helpful to another? But this is part of our calling in and through Christ. And we need to be open as to what we will receive from this, as well as what we can give, through and from Jesus.

What holds us back from this? Or any other thought.

God's work and ours

In thinking and living lately, I've been reminded of the fact that there is a mystery in God's work in our lives. We need to work out what God works in, but to think we can figure all that out is simply not the case. We should be glad to not really get exactly what God is doing. It's important that we just rest assured in God's goodness in our lives, in working in us what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When I start to think my works or anything else depends on me and on my knowledge, that's when I really end up getting nowhere. But when I begin to trust in God and in his good work in me to really move and change me, that's when I begin to see his hand, inexplicably, in a true sense, in my life.

There have been a number of major issues in my life over the years that I had to come to realize that there was no hope as long as I thought that in a sense it depends on me. Instead I had to come to see that it all depends on God, but then from that, as I begin to experience his good work in me, then inexplicably I begin to move, think and live in a direction that before I could not achieve.

Now I have to keep reminding myself of this, and so keep seeing God's help to the helpless, God's grace to a sinner, and his work making any of my works possible.

Can you relate to this? And how?

Bible reading as God's guidance versus a lawbook

In reference to my recent post on freedom, Scot McKnight e-mailed me back the following reply (I take the liberty of sharing this):

The point is actually significant: reading the Bible as God's guidance vs. a lawbook is a big deal. If we listen to the Spirit we will do the sort of thing that is now found in Scripture.

Without getting into David's thinking as we did a bit on that previous post, let's think about Scot's reply to me on e-mail on this.

I think Scot was simply saying that this raises a good and important point, and I agree: that there's a significant difference in reading Scripture as a law book and being bound to it in that way, and in reading Scripture as guidance from God, in a kind of dynamic, interactive, relational, life-orienting manner.

This brings into play whether our Scripture reading has to do with our loving God with all our being and doing, as well as loving our neighbor as ourselves. Is it a practice of love, and a relational one at that? And really first of all God reaching into our lives on our level, in Christ, right where we live, to bring his love by redemption, renewal and reconciliation into this world in and through even us.

If it's just a rule book for me to obey and judge others by, then I'm surely missing the point. The Bible is meant to be from God in a way that engages us in good relationship to God and to others, in the way of Jesus, and calls others in this love, into that same relationship.

Scot is not at all saying that there are no commands to obey; if anyone thinks so they've neither read Scot, or more importantly the New Testament. But in Christ by the Spirit God's word is a word of grace to us, showing us our need, but drawing us to faith and obedience from the heart, to be followers together of God in this world.

Another important dynamic in this is that of the Spirit of God: what part the Spirit plays in our reading of Scripture. God's word is living and powerful because it is a word breathed out from God by the Spirit. We need to take these words in that way, meant to penetrate into our very beings and change our lives as we seek to let this word have its way in our lives, in leading us increasingly into the good will of God in Christ.

These words from the Bible are meant to guide us as God's word, not to come down on us as a law that we seek to apply to ourselves and others. Rather it is bringing our story into the light of God's story so that we can find our identities and stories increasingly shaped by the good story of God in Christ. This is carried on right up to this present time, and will reach the goal of this new creation, of which our lives as part of this old creation, in Jesus, are also a part of now.

What would you say about seeing the Bible as God's guidance versus God's law for us? What difference does this make?

prayer for the week

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from Book of Common Prayer)

from bondage to freedom (and back?)

Reading the naked pastor last night I ran across some thought provoking posts on freedom: here are two of them. The one I couldn't find simply stated something to the effect that people can be in bondage to the Bible, but instead need to be led by the Spirit, and in doing so they will end up finding themselves living out the truth in the Bible. I hope I'm not misrepresenting David Hayward's thought here.

This is neither an endorsement nor a censure of this Vineyard pastor's blog, but just thinking through his thinking, a bit. In reading Paul's letter to the Galatians we find that the freedom we have in Christ is a freedom not to indulge the flesh, but to humbly serve one another in love. We are to walk in the Spirit and to thus bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, which at the heart is love, as opposed to the works of the flesh.

I think David has a good point in that we can put people under bondage with human made rules or expectations, when people can grow only in the freedom that God brings to us in Christ. We need to be present for each other -and sometimes we need special help in the form of prayer or words spoken to us- but we must be careful not to take away this freedom.

I wonder if David's thoughts and practice on freedom reflect what we read in Scripture. We may agree or disagree in certain aspects of what he's about, but in the end we do seek to see all in the light of Scripture with the help of the Spirit. It may be that in the cultural context in which David finds himself in, this is a way that helps people to break away from bondages imposed on them by others, even other Christians, and find (be sure to click!) the true freedom which can come only through Christ.

The freedom we find in Scripture is freedom from the slavery of sin and slavery to righteousness and God. Really learning to live as humans in the love in which we are meant to live together, in Jesus.

What might be your take on this?

keep on reading

Bill Crowder in our weekly chapel at RBC Ministries wonderfully reminded us this week of the Apostle Paul's devotion to reading (that being one thought in Bill's working through of Paul's last thoughts in 2 Timothy). We read from a man who knew that his end was near:

When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

Paul was still reading, even with the probable bad eyesight he had, right up to the very end, still working on this or that matter. Bill reminded us of Herb Vanderlugt who right up to the end of his life was working hard on theological matters that thirty years before he had believed were settled. I remember visiting him a number of times in the hospital towards the end of his life. He was rereading N.T. Wright's three large volumes and would spend the first five minutes enthusiastically talking to me about his reading.

There are so many good authors we ought to be reading today as well as those who are gone. Some today: N.T. Wright, Mirolslav Volf, LeRon Shults, Kevin Vanhoozer, Philip Yancey and Scot McKnight readily come to mind. But there are a host of other good books and writers. Of bygone days there are so many: Augustine and Bonhoeffer are great for starters. But many, many others like G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, deserve our ongoing reading.

I like to work on books and writers that are challenging for life, and make me keep at it the rest of my days. As I heard or read once about Bonhoeffer on one of his books, it's like someone taking a straw to drink from a fire hydrant. Naturally more than we can take in, but like Scripture, which is unique this way, we work on such writings so that we can more and more grow into them in the days we have left.

So read. Reading is my favorite pastime I suppose, though many other things are much enjoyable as well. But reading is something I always like to keep near, even though I don't succeed in accomplishing nearly as much in it as I would like to.

Of course reading Scripture must come first and I take that for granted as I type this post, but we certainly can't take that for granted in our lives.

What part does reading have in your life?

verge of a miracle

Travelling a little tonight in the car with my wife, Deb, I put in the Rich Mullins Songs album and in the end kept wanting to play again and again, Verge of a Miracle (from album Pictures in the Sky). Maybe it's due to my lack of sleep. Maybe it's due to falling into the same struggles all over again. Maybe it's being weary of so much in life. I don't know. But the song was like an elixir, pointing me to the hope we have in Christ as well as the thought that God is at work now to bring to pass his good will in, for and through us.

Love always hopes (1 Corinthians 13) or hopes all (good) things. We so easily want to give in to a lesser hope, what the world or our flesh may be telling us- lying to us (not to mention the devil). We try to walk by sight since our faith is failing us, but we know better, and that this is not really where it's at.

This is when, along with Rich we need to remind ourselves that indeed, through God in Christ we're on the verge of a miracle. We must look to our Lord and Savior. He beckons us to come. Will we go out to him on the water by faith? Will we venture out with him, leaving our old life and everything behind? If so, then we'll begin to see miracles, indeed we'll soon find ourselves living in something beyond us: yes, a miracle as followers of Jesus.

Do we believe that? If not, why not? How can we come to believe this?

lighten up

One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn in my life as a Christian and as a human being is the necessity of "lightening up." I've tended to be too heavy and serious in a wrong kind of way, as if so much depends on me. It reminds me of the lesson Martin Luther had to learn, not at all to put me in the same breath as him, but he had to learn to go to sleep and rest well at night since it was not he, but God who is in charge of the world.

I've learned from some good Christians the art of lightening up and simply having a good old high time, simply enjoying life. And this spirit needs to carry over into all of life, so that I realize that as serious as I want to be in my walk in Christ, it of necessity requires an attitude of faith that while necessarily exercised with concern at times, ends up entrusting the outcome of all things into the good hands of God to bring out his good for us in Jesus.

This is a good attitude to have when we feel like it, and when we don't feel like it. Even when we pray about serious matters indeed, we should do so as the very children of God, knowing we can rest assured in his goodness to us and concern of love in regard to all things in this world.

Do you have trouble lightening up? Or what has helped you to do so?

hypocrisy

Being disingenuous carries with it the idea of one acting and speaking as if they are sincere about something when it is obvious, or at least God knows that they have other motives in play. For example we may think we are doing God a service with reference to something we are doing, but may very well deceive ourselves because we really have a strong self-interest at stake. This is plain hypocrisy and we've probably all fallen prey to it from time to time.

It is good to not pretend we're something more than we're not. We have no end for our potential and capacity for self-deception. If anyone thinks this is not the case than perhaps we haven't honestly examined ourselves in the light of God's will revealed in Scripture and in Jesus Christ. It is best to be modest about what we're all about, than to deceive ourselves as well as others into thinking that we're something that we're not.

Does this mean that we just accept impure motives, or even false motives for speaking and acting? No, of course not. But we do need to realize that we're people in Christ who are in development and hopefully growing towards Christ-likeness, but who still do sin. This endeavor towards Christ-likeness must be individually driven, but it also must exist in the context of community- accepting interdependence in that, and with dependence on God. This will involve ongoing repentance as well as the desire to grow and change, getting rid of that which is indeed disingenous and hypocritical.

What might you add here that could help us in this?

nationalism

Today after watching the Republican presidential candidates debate on This Week With George Stephanopoulos and when watching Tim Russert on Meet the Press interviewing four journalists and writers as to what makes a good president, I am reminded of our enthrallment with politics, and indeed the entire world's interest in the same. And it was somewhat interesting to me as well.

I'm afraid we Christians are quick to side with one faction or another, too often based on what we think are national interests. It is interesting that we will take a strong stand against abortion and vie for only "pro-life" candidates, yet we are strong supporters of American military intervention in the world in the name of our national interests.

I wonder if we as Christians are not meant to rise above such considerations in our thinking and actions. I believe we are. Nationalism in Dietrich Bonhoeffer was laden with problems for Christians who actually are one holy nation scattered throughout the earth (1 Peter). It seems like those on the Christian religious right have boiled down their concerns to three of four issues with the rest relatively unimportant to the national debate. While those on the religious left have done the same with their pet issues. I do think as one who has shared in more or less a part of religious right thinking in the past.

Nationalism is especially tempting to many American Christians since religious freedom was a part of the founding of this nation. And along with Modern Enlightenment thinking, a kind of Christian view undergirded the founding of this nation. But if Jesus's "Sermon on the Mount" is meant for us as Christians today, as salt and light in this world, then nationalism must become secondary in our thinking, I believe.

What must be primary is the kingdom of God come in Jesus, and what comes from that, indeed a new reality into this world which is not a part of this world. Our allegiance in Jesus must be to this new entity and dynamic in the world of which we're a part.

So it's good for us to keep up with the political news and important if we're to be good citizens not only of earth, but of heaven. But let's check our pulse and make sure that our concern and zeal is not unduly given to a nationalism that ends up undermining the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Good Christians will debate on this issue, seeing it from different perspectives and angles. What might strike you here as wrong about my thoughts, or what might you add to them?

prayer for the week

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

from BCP

my sister's/brother's keeper

When confronted by God about his brother Abel whom he had killed, Cain, living in his pseudo-reality exclaimed, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

I've heard/read an argument that anwers this, "no". But the weight of Scripture and what God calls us to as his people in an interdependent, interactive relationship of love in communion with God, seems to clearly indicate that we are certainly to be our brother and sister's keeper.

Of course this works both ways. We need to be open to other sisters and brothers helping us as we need it. And we need to be awake and alert to those around us who at least need our prayers as well as our friendship.

Is there an alarm going off in what you see in a brother or sister's life? Don't overreact of course. First pray. And depending on your relationship to that person, proceed in love to be there for them. Be slow to speak and quick to listen. Don't judge their heart, yet don't turn a blind eye to what might be destructive for them and others, in their walk in God.

This is tricky territory and not one that lends itself to answer books so that one knows exactly what to do when "A" is happening. This is where we need that dependence on God as well as that interdependence on each other as we proceed to live by faith in the will of God together, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What might you like to add here?

faith does not understand

In a real sense faith does not understand where it is or where it is going. For people who like to have all the answers and ready made ones for each question, this is not considered right or acceptable. But I would argue that this is the faith we find in the Bible, from Abraham to our Lord himself. Faith means to keep on going with openness to God with reference to all things. As we are open to whatever God might be doing and speaking into our lives, then we can continue on in a faith which while confident because of God, nevertheless continues on completely dependent on him.

Do we know more than we live out? Yes, of course. But our knowledge is often just paper knowledge. It needs to become a part of this life of faith in the God who is at work in us and who will not let us go until his work is finished. That means this is ongoing throughout all of our lives and is a part of what faith is in this dynamic interface of our lives in relationship to the Triune God, now in this world. And of course, we live this out with each other, in relation to each other and to our world as well.

Why do we resist going on a journey in which we really don't know where we're going? How is this true for us like it was for Abraham, and how is this buffered/made clearer by God's revelation to us of Jesus? Or whatever you might like to add here.

pseudo-reality

Miroslav Volf in Exclusion and Embrace speaks of the pseduo-reality that sin in its power and pervasiveness brings on people. At the heart of sin is the displacing of God from the center and placing ourselves as God. From that comes a false sense of justice and goodness. What is wrong in God's eyes is right in our own eyes, and the more we give into this false "reality", the easier it becomes to be deceived and taken in by it. It makes all the sense in the world to us, and God's way as revealed in Scripture and in Christ makes little or no sense at all, certainly none at all if understood as God intends.

This brings a false shalom/peace and prosperity, which may last for a time, but sooner or later reality will catch up with this pseudo-reality. God in love works in kind and in stern ways to bring one back to their senses (like the lost son).

When we know something is wrong or doesn't seem right this can be an indication that God is trying to get us to see that we're living in a fiction rather than in his Story in Christ. I'd rather experience a little of God's reality than all of the pseudo-reality, as good as it may seem for a season.

What would you share here?

Miroslav Volf of course is not responsible for how I may have misused what he was saying, describing it to some extent in my own thoughts and words.

don't get out

Do you feel stuck in life? Like there's no way out? The pressures remain along with disappointments and on top of that ready made temptations to bail out and leave the status quo behind? Don't get out!

This is the time when we need to hang our heads in prayer and submission to God and accept and even learn to embrace our lot in life.

Easier said than done, surely, but with God's help in Christ we can and must do this. It may mean leaving our own dreams behind, including our own vision of how things ought to be. Instead we wait for God's word and his will, whatever that may be, to be worked out over time in our lives. This is the way we're to go; this is the way in following Jesus in our lives. Don't get out but trust in God to get in and do his good work in and out through our lives.

What about you? Are you tempted to get out? What helps you stay in?