Jean Baker asked me to consider writing about the process of learning to talk about God in the 21st century. I think this is a great idea and the next few columns will be devoted to expanding that thought. This month I want to start with what it feels like to talk TO God in the 21st century. This is a tale of two television shows that envision what it is like to talk to God.
First, I want to talk about Joan of Arcadia. Two summers ago I painted the interior of my home, mostly on Friday nights so I could watch Joan of Arcadia. The most obvious adjective for the show is sincere. Everyone was sincere and Joan was a good kid who never violated anyone's expectations of her, even God's. Sure she disappointed them but she never, even in doing God's will, turned her back completely on her social paradigm. This is the view I think we all want of God, that we will never be startled out of our comfort zone and that God wants us to comprehend his will.
As for Wonder Falls, I doubt many of you have ever heard of it. I hadn't until it showed up from Netflix but I found it far and away does a better job of depicting how I feel God interacts with me and the whole world. Jaye, our heroine had defied every expectation that her family, friends and coworkers have ever had for her. Her family is wildly successful – her mother is an author, her father is a surgeon, her brother is an atheist getting a doctoral degree in comparative religion and her sister is an immigration attorney. Jaye is nouveau poor. She has a philosophy degree from Brown University, works in a gift shop in Niagra Falls and lives in a trailer. Jaye raises self-righteous indignation to an art form; right up to telling people to stop calling her a hero for catching a baby. Unlike Joan who interacts with God through different people each week, God speaks to Jaye through clearly inanimate objects-defective wax lions, brass monkey book ends and wind-up penguins. In every episode Jaye is asked by God to defy social norms, like withhold someones mis-delivered social security checks or reveal a historical lie that has made someone famous. Every time Jaye tries to do what God asks the situation gets noticeably worse, but in the course of events, something bigger and better and beyond expectation happens for the person that Jaye interacts with.
God identifies himself to Joan and patiently guides her through the steps she needs to take, even if he won't always tell her why. God won't even admit that he isn't Satan to Jaye because she must exercise her free will. She does, and she grumbles the whole way.
This is what the bible tells us it is like to interact with God. But because we know the stories in the bible so well, they seem normative, and because we keep them in the bible, we forget how they describe non-normative events for their time. Interacting with God takes us outside ourselves, and God doesn't always or often choose someone sincere and well meaning to spread his message to us. Paul's letter to the Corinthians about being fools for God (see 1 Corinthians, chapter 1) is oft quoted but perhaps rarely understood. God is trying to break us out of our complacency, to experience a paradigm shift that embraces the other. How often do we not listen to someone because they aren't Christian and so infer that God would not speak through them? How often do we not speak or act because we do not believe we are powerful enough for God to speak through us? How often do we not do so because what God needs for us to say is neither polite nor politic?
When we are self-righteous (when we think of ourselves before others), we are not able to build the kingdom of God. Being self-righteous happens when we think we are right to the exclusion of all others, but it also happens when we think that God wouldn't work through us. Are you letting God work through you?
Joan of Arcadia had two seasons and they have a fan site www.joanofarcadia.com if you are interested. Wonderfalls had one season and their fan site name says it all www.savewonderfalls.com.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Monday, August 22, 2005
The Freedom to Give
The other day at a picnic I got into a discussion with someone about homelessness, self-sufficiency and drug abuse. The premise was that people with these problems ought to take classes in taking care of themselves and not bother us by being on the street anymore. I picked up my jaw, my Christian charity, and repeated my mantra first in my head and then aloud. “There but for the grace of God go I.” The conversation revolved around the illusion of self-sufficiency and the medical status of drug abuse and concurrent homelessness. I recommended a book I just finished reading called Radical Compassion by Gary Smith, S.J.(Society of Jesus) that is about his experiences here in Old Town. It is difficult to keep someone as 'other' when you know their back story.
I was reasonably satisfied with the conversation at the time, but the person I was talking to professed Christ, as do I, and I have been wondering why she and I have such different takes on our Christian obligation to the problems of homelessness and drug abuse. I don't know what her take is, but this is mine.
It starts with the question of salvation. And what salvation really means is freedom. Principally, our salvation from sin frees us from the fear of making a mistake(a sin)- fear which keeps us from doing anything at all. Salvation theory isn't about me going to heaven and you going to hell, its about me not worrying about going to hell for a poor outcome to a good intention. Christ died, and that death is all the restitution we need.
This leads to another one of the huge tenets of Christianity; to care for the poor, the sick, the widow, and the prisoner. Salvation theory actually makes this not only possible but imperative. Christ can and does ask of us to care for those with less than ourselves, and he has made possible for us the freedom to do so. His sacrifice exempts us from the usual human interaction of tit for tat.
Christianity does not ask anyone to fulfill their side of a social contract for services. We never have to wash our hands of a problem child or keep large databases of good deeds and taxes paid in order to calculate how much help or love or money someone deserves. They deserve whatever we can give them. Free of holding others responsible for the goodness of our deeds, we are then free to care with love and patience; to come to people where they are and do for them what can be done for them. God will take care of the details, we just have to be expressions of the love that He gave us for each other.
We at Saint David's aren't keeping any databases on who gives, but we have one for who receives. The website has a whole page devoted to trying to catch all the ministries we do for others. There are links to the organizations, lists of what donations we accept for delivery(during office hours, or call for arrangements) and what activities we need volunteers for. Please express your freedom (and maybe unload things that aren't worth the trouble of a whole yard sale.) www.saintdavidofwales.org/ministries/
I was reasonably satisfied with the conversation at the time, but the person I was talking to professed Christ, as do I, and I have been wondering why she and I have such different takes on our Christian obligation to the problems of homelessness and drug abuse. I don't know what her take is, but this is mine.
It starts with the question of salvation. And what salvation really means is freedom. Principally, our salvation from sin frees us from the fear of making a mistake(a sin)- fear which keeps us from doing anything at all. Salvation theory isn't about me going to heaven and you going to hell, its about me not worrying about going to hell for a poor outcome to a good intention. Christ died, and that death is all the restitution we need.
This leads to another one of the huge tenets of Christianity; to care for the poor, the sick, the widow, and the prisoner. Salvation theory actually makes this not only possible but imperative. Christ can and does ask of us to care for those with less than ourselves, and he has made possible for us the freedom to do so. His sacrifice exempts us from the usual human interaction of tit for tat.
Christianity does not ask anyone to fulfill their side of a social contract for services. We never have to wash our hands of a problem child or keep large databases of good deeds and taxes paid in order to calculate how much help or love or money someone deserves. They deserve whatever we can give them. Free of holding others responsible for the goodness of our deeds, we are then free to care with love and patience; to come to people where they are and do for them what can be done for them. God will take care of the details, we just have to be expressions of the love that He gave us for each other.
We at Saint David's aren't keeping any databases on who gives, but we have one for who receives. The website has a whole page devoted to trying to catch all the ministries we do for others. There are links to the organizations, lists of what donations we accept for delivery(during office hours, or call for arrangements) and what activities we need volunteers for. Please express your freedom (and maybe unload things that aren't worth the trouble of a whole yard sale.) www.saintdavidofwales.org/ministries/
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Who can explain a parable
I read my first sermon on 5 parables of the kingdom of heaven last month, and I got so wrapped up trying to figure out what a parable was, I managed to write an article and a sermon. And as promised, here is the lesson I learned about the lesson.
At the start I thought I knew exactly what a parable was, namely that they were self-explanatory. But self-explanatory actually means unexplainable. Red is self-explanatory, and it turns our parables are just as complicated to explain as red. Most of us think that parables are similes, metaphors or possibly allegories.(*see note below) It turns out that parables are neither so limited nor so secret as any of these figures of speech.
Parables are meant to be understood. Unlike an allegory, where the author is trying to hide his meaning, usually to escape persecution, parables are meant to make the meaning clear, and in the language of the listener. So when Jesus was in the fields, he talked about seeds, and when he was by a lake, he spoke of fish. And he didn't say who was the fish or the seed to the listener, only, occasionally to the disciples when they didn't get it. He didn't have to, because the meaning of the parable is dependent upon the listener.
Just because they are meant to be easily understood doesn't mean they are to be easily dismissed. The parables all have twist that shake us up. Farmers may think they know everything about farming, but Jesus wasn't talking about the world we live in but the world we could live in if we step outside our usual way of doing things and our usual expectations. Parables are still meant to do this, and if they don't is is because we aren't farmers or we have heard them too many times. But knowing the words doesn't mean we know the meaning. We can change this by reading about first century Palestine, but we can also do it by reflecting on new parables.
The Parable of the Lottery Ticket
The kingdom of heaven is like a piece of trash blowing in an abandoned lot. Someone picked up the trash with a hard heart, complaining about litterbugs and urban decay. But before throwing it away, identified it, and seeing that it was a lottery ticket, complained bitterly about people who operate and indulge in lotteries. In a fit of peak, the person with a hard heart checked the lottery numbers and discovered the winning ticket. Suddenly, the scales were lifted from the heart of this person, and with great excitement, they used the lottery money to pay all the back taxes and purchase the abandoned lot.
What do you think it means?
Notes below-
*Similes are sentences that connect images with the words 'like' or 'as.'
*Metaphors are sentences where the subject is assigned characteristics directly, no like or as.
*Allegories are developed metaphors, multiple sentences, where each detail is important and a hidden or secret word for something else.
At the start I thought I knew exactly what a parable was, namely that they were self-explanatory. But self-explanatory actually means unexplainable. Red is self-explanatory, and it turns our parables are just as complicated to explain as red. Most of us think that parables are similes, metaphors or possibly allegories.(*see note below) It turns out that parables are neither so limited nor so secret as any of these figures of speech.
Parables are meant to be understood. Unlike an allegory, where the author is trying to hide his meaning, usually to escape persecution, parables are meant to make the meaning clear, and in the language of the listener. So when Jesus was in the fields, he talked about seeds, and when he was by a lake, he spoke of fish. And he didn't say who was the fish or the seed to the listener, only, occasionally to the disciples when they didn't get it. He didn't have to, because the meaning of the parable is dependent upon the listener.
Just because they are meant to be easily understood doesn't mean they are to be easily dismissed. The parables all have twist that shake us up. Farmers may think they know everything about farming, but Jesus wasn't talking about the world we live in but the world we could live in if we step outside our usual way of doing things and our usual expectations. Parables are still meant to do this, and if they don't is is because we aren't farmers or we have heard them too many times. But knowing the words doesn't mean we know the meaning. We can change this by reading about first century Palestine, but we can also do it by reflecting on new parables.
The Parable of the Lottery Ticket
The kingdom of heaven is like a piece of trash blowing in an abandoned lot. Someone picked up the trash with a hard heart, complaining about litterbugs and urban decay. But before throwing it away, identified it, and seeing that it was a lottery ticket, complained bitterly about people who operate and indulge in lotteries. In a fit of peak, the person with a hard heart checked the lottery numbers and discovered the winning ticket. Suddenly, the scales were lifted from the heart of this person, and with great excitement, they used the lottery money to pay all the back taxes and purchase the abandoned lot.
What do you think it means?
Notes below-
*Similes are sentences that connect images with the words 'like' or 'as.'
*Metaphors are sentences where the subject is assigned characteristics directly, no like or as.
*Allegories are developed metaphors, multiple sentences, where each detail is important and a hidden or secret word for something else.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
The Kingdom of Heaven
Theme: The kingdom of heaven is small, valuable and inclusive and it is here.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And blessed be his kingdom now and forever. Amen. Today's Gospel is actually 5 lessons – all parables about the kingdom of heaven.
Section One: A bit on parables
When I stood up here a few weeks ago and picked a date out of a hat for my first sermon I had no idea what the reading was. After looking it up in the lectionary, I was able to tell people that it was the parable of the mustard seed. I have been getting a lot of sympathy, which I could not understand, because I have always thought that the parables were the easiest lessons in the whole scripture. But easy things have a way of getting really complicated really fast.
I could just spend my time up here telling you all about what parables are and how complicated they can get, but I decided that it made for a boring talk and an even more boring listen, so I decided to use it for my next Contact Article.
Instead, I am going to try to explain how the five of these parables in todays Gospel show us everything we need to know about the kingdom of heaven, or the Church. That the kingdom is made of the tiniest bit of potential that grows into the largest of things. That the kingdom is so valuable that the quality versus quantity arguments are useless. And lastly, that the kingdom includes everyone, regardless of merit.
Section Two: The kingdom is found in the smallest of things.
So let's start with the tiniest bits of potential. The parables that Jesus uses to explain how insignificant the work of the kingdom appears are those of the mustard seed and yeast. Both of these things seem useless when viewed in the palm of your hand, but plant the seed in dirt and you better have a large plot of ground around it. Yeast, is even more pointless. In fact, it dissolves in water, but add that yeast to flour and leave it in a warm and nurturing environment and the cup of flour will bubble up and overflow the pan.
The kingdom is made of another such tiny thing. What are the commandments? Love God. And love your neighbor. Love is an emotion that makes no sense, has no easily seen motivation, it is often unreturned. My actions can easily lead someone to be pleased with me, or angry with me. But nothing I can do will make someone love me. Love can only be given freely. Love is the tiniest bit of potential, and amazingly, the more you keep giving it away, the more of it that seems to come back to you. Like a tiny mustard seed, it can indeed become a place of rest and a source of food. Like yeast it can overflow and consume its container.
Section Three: Experiencing the kingdom causes us to desire no other alternative.
And there's another really amazing thing about love. Once it starts flowing, it's the most important thing. Any teenager with a crush can tell you how all consuming it is. But any couple who has been married for a long time, they can tell you how valuable it is.
Jesus uses two parables to try to shake up our idea about value. The first, a tale about a treasure in a field, and the second a pearl like no other. This first tale of treasure, my husband says is the basis of all good heist movies, like The Lady Killers with Tom Hanks. The second, however, I think more simply describes the spiritual journey.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls...” We are all like this merchant. Every soul on earth is seeking spiritual truths, and whenever we find something that sounds good, we pick it up and add it to our string.
I have a fabulous string of odd ball pearls I got in San Francisco for 40 dollars. They are all very large and each one of them represents for some pearl farmer a horrible disappointment. So disappointing that he is practically giving them away. If this string of pearls where perfect, they would be beyond price, they certainly wouldn't be strung altogether. Now, I particularly like this string because while they aren't any more perfect than I am, I really like pearls and this is the only way I am every going to afford an opera length strand of pearls. Many people go through their entire lives adding bits of spiritual truth to their belief systems and never actually finding their faith. Because it is easier to collect good enough rather than risk it all on perfection. Better to believe something than to experience true faith.
Now, I have another pearl necklace, and it was a gift, so I really don't know how much it cost, but it came with some certificates of perfection. It was a gift given to me for my first Mother's Day, by someone without children; Someone who now calls me for parenting advice in the middle of the night. There is only one pearl on that necklace, and the confidence- the faith- that I am a good parent and will have good advice, is what makes me wear it over and over. Is what makes me buy sturdier and sturdier chains for it and fear its loss.
I have never restrung my opera pears. They are still on the dental floss I bought them on, and I can't wear them now, because I don't trust them not to wind up all over the floor. They, like all the bits of other people's religions I collected when I was afraid I could never find truth, sit in the bottom of my jewelry box.
Section Four: The kingdom of heaven is inclusive.
There is one more parable in this greatest hits collection of Matthews. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind...” Then he goes on to say that the nets get hauled in and the fish get sorted. So I think it is pretty obvious that people are the fish. And that we are all mixed up in the net together. So the useful and sturdy tuna and the beautiful and painful jellyfish are swimming around in the net together.
But there are two things that are really important to our understanding of this. Two things that allow everyone, even non fisherman, like me, to go be fishers of men. It doesn't matter what you catch, and you won't be the one who has to sort it out. I feel like I ought to repeat this, it doesn't matter what you catch. You don't have to sort it out.
Our commandment is to love, our commission is to share. It is impossible to offer unconditional love and impartial judgment. That is why Solomon asked for wisdom, that is why Paul reminds us that God is the only one who can judge his people. Only God can offer such love and discernment.
Section Five: What have we said and what are we doing?
If we do what Jesus has commanded us to do, we will further the kingdom of heaven. We will love, we will value that love, and we will share it with all who come within our reach. How will we do it? By loving our neighbors as ourselves. By feeding the poor and visiting the prisoner.
The smallest action, unselfish love, like a mustard seed, like a grain of yeast, will explode into the largest expression of caring and will ultimately change the world. Changing the world is worth any price; to end suffering, to end poverty, to end crime. That price is embracing without discrimination. We cannot even conceive of such a price without Christ. By being an example, by offering intercession, every day, every moment, for us. For the kingdom of heaven.
(Pentecost 10, Year A, Proper 12)
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And blessed be his kingdom now and forever. Amen. Today's Gospel is actually 5 lessons – all parables about the kingdom of heaven.
Section One: A bit on parables
When I stood up here a few weeks ago and picked a date out of a hat for my first sermon I had no idea what the reading was. After looking it up in the lectionary, I was able to tell people that it was the parable of the mustard seed. I have been getting a lot of sympathy, which I could not understand, because I have always thought that the parables were the easiest lessons in the whole scripture. But easy things have a way of getting really complicated really fast.
I could just spend my time up here telling you all about what parables are and how complicated they can get, but I decided that it made for a boring talk and an even more boring listen, so I decided to use it for my next Contact Article.
Instead, I am going to try to explain how the five of these parables in todays Gospel show us everything we need to know about the kingdom of heaven, or the Church. That the kingdom is made of the tiniest bit of potential that grows into the largest of things. That the kingdom is so valuable that the quality versus quantity arguments are useless. And lastly, that the kingdom includes everyone, regardless of merit.
Section Two: The kingdom is found in the smallest of things.
So let's start with the tiniest bits of potential. The parables that Jesus uses to explain how insignificant the work of the kingdom appears are those of the mustard seed and yeast. Both of these things seem useless when viewed in the palm of your hand, but plant the seed in dirt and you better have a large plot of ground around it. Yeast, is even more pointless. In fact, it dissolves in water, but add that yeast to flour and leave it in a warm and nurturing environment and the cup of flour will bubble up and overflow the pan.
The kingdom is made of another such tiny thing. What are the commandments? Love God. And love your neighbor. Love is an emotion that makes no sense, has no easily seen motivation, it is often unreturned. My actions can easily lead someone to be pleased with me, or angry with me. But nothing I can do will make someone love me. Love can only be given freely. Love is the tiniest bit of potential, and amazingly, the more you keep giving it away, the more of it that seems to come back to you. Like a tiny mustard seed, it can indeed become a place of rest and a source of food. Like yeast it can overflow and consume its container.
Section Three: Experiencing the kingdom causes us to desire no other alternative.
And there's another really amazing thing about love. Once it starts flowing, it's the most important thing. Any teenager with a crush can tell you how all consuming it is. But any couple who has been married for a long time, they can tell you how valuable it is.
Jesus uses two parables to try to shake up our idea about value. The first, a tale about a treasure in a field, and the second a pearl like no other. This first tale of treasure, my husband says is the basis of all good heist movies, like The Lady Killers with Tom Hanks. The second, however, I think more simply describes the spiritual journey.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls...” We are all like this merchant. Every soul on earth is seeking spiritual truths, and whenever we find something that sounds good, we pick it up and add it to our string.
I have a fabulous string of odd ball pearls I got in San Francisco for 40 dollars. They are all very large and each one of them represents for some pearl farmer a horrible disappointment. So disappointing that he is practically giving them away. If this string of pearls where perfect, they would be beyond price, they certainly wouldn't be strung altogether. Now, I particularly like this string because while they aren't any more perfect than I am, I really like pearls and this is the only way I am every going to afford an opera length strand of pearls. Many people go through their entire lives adding bits of spiritual truth to their belief systems and never actually finding their faith. Because it is easier to collect good enough rather than risk it all on perfection. Better to believe something than to experience true faith.
Now, I have another pearl necklace, and it was a gift, so I really don't know how much it cost, but it came with some certificates of perfection. It was a gift given to me for my first Mother's Day, by someone without children; Someone who now calls me for parenting advice in the middle of the night. There is only one pearl on that necklace, and the confidence- the faith- that I am a good parent and will have good advice, is what makes me wear it over and over. Is what makes me buy sturdier and sturdier chains for it and fear its loss.
I have never restrung my opera pears. They are still on the dental floss I bought them on, and I can't wear them now, because I don't trust them not to wind up all over the floor. They, like all the bits of other people's religions I collected when I was afraid I could never find truth, sit in the bottom of my jewelry box.
Section Four: The kingdom of heaven is inclusive.
There is one more parable in this greatest hits collection of Matthews. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind...” Then he goes on to say that the nets get hauled in and the fish get sorted. So I think it is pretty obvious that people are the fish. And that we are all mixed up in the net together. So the useful and sturdy tuna and the beautiful and painful jellyfish are swimming around in the net together.
But there are two things that are really important to our understanding of this. Two things that allow everyone, even non fisherman, like me, to go be fishers of men. It doesn't matter what you catch, and you won't be the one who has to sort it out. I feel like I ought to repeat this, it doesn't matter what you catch. You don't have to sort it out.
Our commandment is to love, our commission is to share. It is impossible to offer unconditional love and impartial judgment. That is why Solomon asked for wisdom, that is why Paul reminds us that God is the only one who can judge his people. Only God can offer such love and discernment.
Section Five: What have we said and what are we doing?
If we do what Jesus has commanded us to do, we will further the kingdom of heaven. We will love, we will value that love, and we will share it with all who come within our reach. How will we do it? By loving our neighbors as ourselves. By feeding the poor and visiting the prisoner.
The smallest action, unselfish love, like a mustard seed, like a grain of yeast, will explode into the largest expression of caring and will ultimately change the world. Changing the world is worth any price; to end suffering, to end poverty, to end crime. That price is embracing without discrimination. We cannot even conceive of such a price without Christ. By being an example, by offering intercession, every day, every moment, for us. For the kingdom of heaven.
(Pentecost 10, Year A, Proper 12)
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Making time for God in your Personal Life
Last month I wrote about letting things go to make room for God to work in our lives. This month, I need to remind myself, and thus you, of why I did this.
One of the most spectacular aspects of the Episcopal Church, for me, is the concept and practice of corporate worship. Having grown up in a religion where the individual experience of God is the most important and telling measure of one's faith, it has been a liberating homecoming to be in a place that celebrates the communal nature of Christianity. But this does not negate or diminish the importance of personal devotions. Even the BCP, our community guidebook, has a liturgy for individuals, called Daily Devotions (p 136 if you want to have a look).
Of course, I have a recently discovered and much indulged fascination with communal worship, so what I really want to do is start morning and evening devotionals with my whole family. I want to show my children just how important and fulfilling God is every day, but I know that this would constitute a fight twice a day with my house full of nature's audience members. All this would really accomplish is even less time to spend in prayer and devotion.
So for now, I think I need to stop trying to force my good intentions on others and in doing so, actually avoid the personal time I need to be allowing God to speak to me. I need to lead by example. Instead of squeezing my own prayer into the twilight corners of my day, when I am in truth perhaps worshiping my coffee cup or pillow more than God, I ought to dedicate some of the prime time to my prayers and study. Then, perhaps, when others see me, they will be truly touched and want to know more of God themselves.
One of the most spectacular aspects of the Episcopal Church, for me, is the concept and practice of corporate worship. Having grown up in a religion where the individual experience of God is the most important and telling measure of one's faith, it has been a liberating homecoming to be in a place that celebrates the communal nature of Christianity. But this does not negate or diminish the importance of personal devotions. Even the BCP, our community guidebook, has a liturgy for individuals, called Daily Devotions (p 136 if you want to have a look).
Of course, I have a recently discovered and much indulged fascination with communal worship, so what I really want to do is start morning and evening devotionals with my whole family. I want to show my children just how important and fulfilling God is every day, but I know that this would constitute a fight twice a day with my house full of nature's audience members. All this would really accomplish is even less time to spend in prayer and devotion.
So for now, I think I need to stop trying to force my good intentions on others and in doing so, actually avoid the personal time I need to be allowing God to speak to me. I need to lead by example. Instead of squeezing my own prayer into the twilight corners of my day, when I am in truth perhaps worshiping my coffee cup or pillow more than God, I ought to dedicate some of the prime time to my prayers and study. Then, perhaps, when others see me, they will be truly touched and want to know more of God themselves.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Feed your Soul - Not your idea of what needs doing
This last month I have fallen into a very bad habit that I slide into from time to time. Someone will ask me to do something, or they will state some thing that needs to get done, and I will volunteer. After all, it doesn't seem like very much extra, and the sun is up so much longer, making the time seem that much more available. Unfortunately, no matter how long the sun choses to grace the sky, there are still only 24 hours in a day. The real result of all this volunteering to make other lives seem easier is that my own rapidly falls into chaos. I have to start juggling priorities and deciding not only which activity is more “worthy” but which relationship is more important.
I come back to Matthew 10:39 a lot. It says “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
What do we mean when we say 'get a life' in our 21st century culture? For the most part, we are talking about getting a 'real' job with real benefits and real potential for taking on more responsibility at that job. We are talking about buying a house and taking on repairs and mortgages and actually buying furniture. We are talking about getting married, and creating new rituals and responsibilities with another person, and often having children. The problem is, that sort of life is expensive, it is time consuming, and very rarely do all of those other responsibilities and commitments line up with the work that we have been left to do by Jesus Christ. When we find that life, we spend a great deal of time afraid that we will lose it; And often we do.
About two years ago, Shannon and I committed our lives to following the small still voice of the Holy Spirit. To be fair, He was making his wishes pretty clear with a combination of high rent and no job. Still, the call had come before and I had always chosen the security of the world over the security of the sparrows and the grasses. It was time to consider the definition of stupidity and make a change.
Suddenly, I was spiritually mature enough to understand this verse. It wasn't about getting heavenly mansions at all, it was about the amazing transformation of priorities and needs and fulfillments that happen when you do listen to that voice; when you do lose your life for His sake. The freedom from fear is the true freedom of grace. That grace has brought about a refocus of just about everything I was taught to do with and for my family. I have to say, we slide a lot between what the culture tells us is important to us and what is important to God.
Peace and grace our gifts to us from Jesus Christ if we lose our lives for his sake. Living faith is a commitment that has to be affirmed every minute of every day. It is counterintuitive to human priorities and it has a way of cutting through the detritus of human affairs. When I am not listening to what God asks of me, and arranging my life accordingly I get very distracted by the coulda, the shoulda, and the woulda; and not very much actually gets done at all. What does get accomplished is often only done with half my heart and half my attention. Unfortunately, then I am left with the other half of both my heart and my attention focused on the undone. What I could, should and would do, if I was ordering my life according to His will and not my own is often very different. I do admit, it is very hard to let God take care of the details. It is even harder to consider that if I did not do the things that are not asked of me, and they didn't get done, that too is God's will.
I challenge each one of you to think about what you are doing right now in your life that is an unwelcome obligation, a time bleeding commitment that does not glorify God (you will know them by the feeling in your heart) and a task you think that no one else will do if you don't. Let them go. It may be that they are not important to God, and it might be that you are taking away someone else's opportunity to glorify God and live by grace.
I come back to Matthew 10:39 a lot. It says “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
What do we mean when we say 'get a life' in our 21st century culture? For the most part, we are talking about getting a 'real' job with real benefits and real potential for taking on more responsibility at that job. We are talking about buying a house and taking on repairs and mortgages and actually buying furniture. We are talking about getting married, and creating new rituals and responsibilities with another person, and often having children. The problem is, that sort of life is expensive, it is time consuming, and very rarely do all of those other responsibilities and commitments line up with the work that we have been left to do by Jesus Christ. When we find that life, we spend a great deal of time afraid that we will lose it; And often we do.
About two years ago, Shannon and I committed our lives to following the small still voice of the Holy Spirit. To be fair, He was making his wishes pretty clear with a combination of high rent and no job. Still, the call had come before and I had always chosen the security of the world over the security of the sparrows and the grasses. It was time to consider the definition of stupidity and make a change.
Suddenly, I was spiritually mature enough to understand this verse. It wasn't about getting heavenly mansions at all, it was about the amazing transformation of priorities and needs and fulfillments that happen when you do listen to that voice; when you do lose your life for His sake. The freedom from fear is the true freedom of grace. That grace has brought about a refocus of just about everything I was taught to do with and for my family. I have to say, we slide a lot between what the culture tells us is important to us and what is important to God.
Peace and grace our gifts to us from Jesus Christ if we lose our lives for his sake. Living faith is a commitment that has to be affirmed every minute of every day. It is counterintuitive to human priorities and it has a way of cutting through the detritus of human affairs. When I am not listening to what God asks of me, and arranging my life accordingly I get very distracted by the coulda, the shoulda, and the woulda; and not very much actually gets done at all. What does get accomplished is often only done with half my heart and half my attention. Unfortunately, then I am left with the other half of both my heart and my attention focused on the undone. What I could, should and would do, if I was ordering my life according to His will and not my own is often very different. I do admit, it is very hard to let God take care of the details. It is even harder to consider that if I did not do the things that are not asked of me, and they didn't get done, that too is God's will.
I challenge each one of you to think about what you are doing right now in your life that is an unwelcome obligation, a time bleeding commitment that does not glorify God (you will know them by the feeling in your heart) and a task you think that no one else will do if you don't. Let them go. It may be that they are not important to God, and it might be that you are taking away someone else's opportunity to glorify God and live by grace.
Sunday, April 3, 2005
Coincidental Distractions from God
When do circumstances constitute random events, a distraction, or a call to growth? Several upheavals have occurred in the life of our family recently, and Shannon and I have been discussing how to tell the difference between coincidences, distractions and calls from God.
As many of you know, Shannon is looking for a new job because his company cannot make payroll. It isn't something he did, it isn't downsizing or outsourcing, it is just circumstances and a really small business. The strange and quirky thing is that this is that 2 years ago Shannon lost his job for the same reasons and at the same time. Easter isn't exactly the best time to get bad news. For us as Christians it is the most exciting time of year and filled with the most possibilities; Christ is risen, all things are possible.
The last time this happened we cut our losses and moved back in with our parents. It didn't seem like we were lining up our lives for any great revelatory events but it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for growth, individually and as a family. Shannon got to stay home with the kids, whom he had hardly seen in 5 years and I reached a place spiritually that has led to things like leading prayer services and writing these articles.
Now, two years later, we are wondering if God has something to teach us and we missed the boat the last time. We began second guessing some of our previous choices and reevaluating of our current circumstances. We were wondering if the job loss at Easter – again – was just a coincidence. Is looking for a new job now a distraction from the work we should be doing for God's purpose, or is it a call from Him to grow in new ways that we have not been able to do before now?
Coincidence, luck, happenstance, serendipity. I think they are all just words we use to describe events with our pattern-making brains. I think the events in themselves are not all that important. What matters is what you do with them. Do you use them as an opportunity to get distracted from fulfilling Jesus' work on earth? Do you use them as an excuse to avoid doing God's work? Every one of us is guilty of having changed our perspective to avoid the things we don't want to do something about.
One of the important lessons that Christianity teaches us is that we do not have control over the happenstance of our lives, all we have is the knowledge the there is a God and He does express His will. We can cooperate with that will by conforming to the revelation, reason and tradition that God has given us or we can do our puny best to thwart it. However, God's will does prevail, not our own. Jesus was for us the perfect example of how to do God's work. He then left us to continue his work. The important thing is to see every event as an opportunity to grow in our Christ-like behaviors. More important is to use every opportunity to be Christ-like.
I am picking up more work at my job, and Shannon has had a couple of interviews already. We have family and friends and Samaritans who will use our circumstances to be more Christ-like in their lives, just as we have utilized the circumstances of others to be more Christ-like in our own. The things of this world are fleeting, jobs especially, but the opportunities are golden.
As many of you know, Shannon is looking for a new job because his company cannot make payroll. It isn't something he did, it isn't downsizing or outsourcing, it is just circumstances and a really small business. The strange and quirky thing is that this is that 2 years ago Shannon lost his job for the same reasons and at the same time. Easter isn't exactly the best time to get bad news. For us as Christians it is the most exciting time of year and filled with the most possibilities; Christ is risen, all things are possible.
The last time this happened we cut our losses and moved back in with our parents. It didn't seem like we were lining up our lives for any great revelatory events but it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for growth, individually and as a family. Shannon got to stay home with the kids, whom he had hardly seen in 5 years and I reached a place spiritually that has led to things like leading prayer services and writing these articles.
Now, two years later, we are wondering if God has something to teach us and we missed the boat the last time. We began second guessing some of our previous choices and reevaluating of our current circumstances. We were wondering if the job loss at Easter – again – was just a coincidence. Is looking for a new job now a distraction from the work we should be doing for God's purpose, or is it a call from Him to grow in new ways that we have not been able to do before now?
Coincidence, luck, happenstance, serendipity. I think they are all just words we use to describe events with our pattern-making brains. I think the events in themselves are not all that important. What matters is what you do with them. Do you use them as an opportunity to get distracted from fulfilling Jesus' work on earth? Do you use them as an excuse to avoid doing God's work? Every one of us is guilty of having changed our perspective to avoid the things we don't want to do something about.
One of the important lessons that Christianity teaches us is that we do not have control over the happenstance of our lives, all we have is the knowledge the there is a God and He does express His will. We can cooperate with that will by conforming to the revelation, reason and tradition that God has given us or we can do our puny best to thwart it. However, God's will does prevail, not our own. Jesus was for us the perfect example of how to do God's work. He then left us to continue his work. The important thing is to see every event as an opportunity to grow in our Christ-like behaviors. More important is to use every opportunity to be Christ-like.
I am picking up more work at my job, and Shannon has had a couple of interviews already. We have family and friends and Samaritans who will use our circumstances to be more Christ-like in their lives, just as we have utilized the circumstances of others to be more Christ-like in our own. The things of this world are fleeting, jobs especially, but the opportunities are golden.
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