Where Have You Encountered Christ Today?

John L’Heureux is a former Jesuit priest and a prize-winning author who has taught at several American universities and for many years has been Professor of English at Stanford University. In one of his poems, “The Trouble with Epiphanies” (1968) he reminds us that this is God’s world and that, as Jesus indicated (Matthew 25:31-46), he can be encountered in the daily experiences of life if we are sensitive to his presence in our world and life and can look beyond the places and circumstances in which we expect God to appear. Often God comes in the interruptions and surprises of the day. Where did you see Jesus today? Where did you have an epiphany that made you aware (or now makes you aware as you reflect on it) of God?

Christ came into my room

and stood there

and I was bored to death.

I had work to do.

I wouldn’t have minded

if he’d been crippled

or something—I do well

with cripples—but he

just stood there, all face,

and with that d—ned guitar.

I didn’t ask him to sit down:

he’d have stayed all day.

(Let’s be honest. You

can be crucified just so often;

then you’ve had it. I mean

you’re useless; no good

to God, let alone

to anybody else.) So I said

to him after a while---

well, what’s up? What do you want?

And he laughed, stupid,

said he was just passing by

and thought he’d say hello.

Great, I said, hello.

So he left.

And I was so d—ned mad

I couldn’t even listen

to the radio. I went

and got some coffee.

The trouble with Christ is

he always comes at the wrong time.

 

--John L’Heureux, “The Trouble with Epiphanies” (1968)

“The Heresy of a Privatized Faith"

 

 

 

 

A while back, sociologist Robert Bellah writing in Habits of the Heart, related this story: “Sheila Larson is a young nurse who has received a good deal of therapy and describes her faith as  Sheilaism.” This suggests the logical possibility of more than 235 million American religions, one for each of us. ‘I believe in God,’ Sheila says, “I am not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice.”

 

“My little voice” and a “just Jesus and me” faith also guides many so-called “Christians.” We may  expand it a bit to cover “Sharpism” or Smithism” or “Chanism” or Hernandezism”. We may ask God to bless me and my wife, our son John and his wife, us four, but this is not the faith of Jesus and it is not the faith of the early church or historic Christianity. When his followers asked him to teach them how to pray, Jesus didn’t say that they were to pray, “My Father who is in heaven….” He taught them by example and word to pray, “Our Father,…” Christianity has always been a “communitarian” faith. Not communitarian in the sense of a political philosophy, although there are some connections there, but that at the heart of the Christian faith is “community.” God is a Triune God. In the beginning was God, and that means in the beginning was a relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Christians worship a God who has existed from all eternity in self-giving, outgoing love among the members of the Trinity. And that means that if God-as-Trinity is the core reality of the universe, it  means that the core of reality is community. And everything has to be seen from that perspective.  

 

This means that for the follower of Jesus who has been brought into this community of love and  nourished in the community of the faithful, I am to see things, process things, value things, make decisions in the light of how they glorify God who is a community of love and how they build up and strengthen the community of faith of which I am a part. Certainly this is what we see in Acts 2 and 4 and in the letters of Paul, especially 1 Corinthians and Ephesians. In the books of Acts, Chapter 5, there is a startling story of a husband and wife who forgot this. They decided to sell some of their property and give it to the church so that, as we can see in Acts 2 and 4, the proceeds can be used for the relief of the poor and those in need. They decided to say to the church that their contribution was the total amount they had received, although it wasn’t. They held back some for themselves. They lied. They lied not just to the church, but also to God and with that came a judgment. 

 

Society may operate on a social contract – I am an individual first who joins together with others when it serves my self-interest and can withdraw when it doesn’t. But this isn’t the way of the church or our life in God. Those who are connected by faith to Christ are “in Christ” the Apostle Paul likes to say. I am not alone. And so are all those who are related to God through Christ. It is not a social contract, but a covenant relationship in which I am bound to God and to all those who are my brothers and sisters. And I am not only to do good for the Body of Christ, I am also to do good for all people (Galatians 6:10) as I have opportunity. 

 

Because Christians belong to God and one another, we realize that all that we possess is loaned to us  as stewards. The Christian can’t really say “this is mine” in any exclusive sense. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it” writes the Psalmist (24:1). And the Christian realizes that he/she is a steward of all they possess, materially and otherwise. Maybe we should put on everything the words: “for the use of [name]”. They are for the use of the steward of these goods. But they are not owned or possessed exclusively. It all belongs to God and we are privileged to use it for his glory and this means that I am called to share. This is a good reminder in the face of so much greed and selfishness and personal consumption that pervades our culture and even the lives of many professed followers of Jesus. But we are to invest in God’s kingdom and the Lord’s Prayer or the Disciple’s Prayer in  Matthew 6 reminds us that we are to pray that God’s kingdom/God’s will is realized in this world. But that is hard to do when faith becomes privatized. To pray the “our Father” and to live in the Kingdom of God is a rejection of all privatized faith. I wonder how our world would be different if the almost two billion people who claim to be followers of Jesus really lived that way? What revolution and transformation would take place in our life, society, our country, our world?

“Learning to Love -- A Christian Imperative"

I have been thinking about all the animosity, mean-spirited criticism, negative attacks and just plain hate that seems to be filling our world. My greatest pain comes from seeing that some of it, maybe too much of it, comes from professed Christians. For many their ideology or political or socially driven agenda has surpassed their commitment to love as Christ has loved us.

 

 

If God is love (1 John 4:8) and human beings are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), learning to love is a theological imperative. An “imperative” is something essential, vital, crucial, urgent. It is essential for our wholeness as human beings, our existence as followers of Jesus, and it is vital if the world is to really see that the message we seek to share – that God loves all people and has shown that love in Christ-- is real. 

 

 

Learning to love begins with reexamining our understanding and experience of love, especially with regard to God. Even if we are fortunate to be born into a loving and caring family, it’s not too long before our understanding of love gets connected with rewards and favors. As we grow, we pick up the subtle messages that getting and giving love is often based on meeting certain expectations; and if we don’t, love can be withheld. Whether it’s being quiet, performing well in school, getting along with our siblings, etc., we soon learn that love is conditional. Maybe we even came to see God’s love like that. God doesn’t love us unless we live up to certain standards and perform in certain ways. And as we grow older, this is the kind of love we learn how to give, both to God and others -- love as an effort to cultivate acceptance, receive favor, and even manipulate others for our own purposes. And if we didn’t get what we wanted, love could be abandoned or withheld until we did. As a pastor I have seen this in families and in relationships between husbands and wives. 

 

 

But that’s not real love. In the Hebrew Bible, a word used to describe God’s love is hesed.  It is steadfast love, resilient love, a determined love. It is not based on feelings or convenience. It is a relational love grounded in God’s unrelenting, unconditional love for us as people created in God’s image and loved with a cross-like love seen in Jesus. This is the kind of love that those who claim to be related to God are intended to have. If we only love God and others for what we gain from the relationship, we are not loving them. We are just using the relationship for our own gain. This is exploitation, not love. 

 

 

Now, the reality is that all of our love as human beings is tainted by selfishness and self-interest. That’s who we are as a result of our current condition. But we can LEARN to love as God loves. But our ability to love as God loves depends completely on our first knowing God’s life-altering love for us. Without that experience we don’t know what pure love is. And as we come to understand and experience this  unconditional, unlimited love it begins to change us, or should. God’s love is a healing and transforming love. If we allow it, it can begin to heal our own inner wounds and fears, and as we are changed so is the way we see our world and react to the people in it. It makes it possible to become more compassionate, empathetic, patient, understanding. 

 

 

“Possible”, but not always easy. When people hurt us or we face things that rub us the wrong way or threaten our circumstances or values, the first reaction, the natural reaction is to retaliate or to leave or shut down. It is a reaction based on feelings--hate, fear, anger, insecurity, indifference. But if we understand and have experienced God’s love for us, we come to realize that love for others is an attitude, it is a choice.  I don’t think God’s love for us is one that causes God to go weak in the knees, feel queasy in the stomach, or get all gushy or sentimental. I’m not denying the place of emotion, but I don’t think that biblical love (agape) is essentially or primarily emotional, it is an attitude or a disposition. It is wanting the best for the other. It is intentional. It is a choice we make. But that choice, intention, attitude needs to be cultivated and it only develops as we grow in our experience of God’s love and we see what that love looks like in the life of Jesus. It will never be perfect in this life, but we all know of people who have shown growth in that kind of love in their lives. Many of us have been on the receiving end of that love. And as we grow like Christ, love becomes the guiding principle in our response to all people, both in word and deed. And the interesting thing is that as people around us are touched by this love, their attitudes and actions towards us are often transformed. And if they aren’t, we don’t stop loving them. Because God is love and we are children of God.  I wonder how learning to love would change your world, our world?

The God of Infinite Surprises

Lord, you're the most unpredictable
person
I know.
Just when I think
I've finally begun
to figure you out,
you do something
so fantastic,
so completely, wildly
unexpected
that I'm knocked for a loop.

I think I know where to find you
and then suddenly I find you
in the most unlikely places;
at the oddest moments;
in the strangest people.

I think I know your voice;
and then I hear you
in a child's crooning lullaby;
in an old man's chuckle;
in a lover's sigh.

I think I know your face;
and then I see you
in a psychiatric ward;
in a jam-packed tenement;
in the streets,
wandering aimlessly.

I think I know you well;
and then I discover
I know you not at all.

I think I know your love;
and then I discover
I haven't begun to know it.

Thank you, Lord,
for being unpredictable.
Thank you for startling me
out of my comfortable rut.
Continue teaching me
that you're a God
of infinite surprises.

--Sue Garmon (Cited in Brennan Manning's Souvenirs of Solitude, pp. 37-38)

May this God of infinite surprises astonish and startle you this day. May your eyes be open to the surprising ways he speaks, looks and acts as you go throughout your day. Blessings

“Beginning Again”

 

Today, for those of you who don’t know, is the beginning of the Chinese New Year. This year is the  Year of The Rabbit.” I have spent most of my adult life and ministry in Asia or in Chinese churches. Chinese New Year is a family time, a time for celebrating and feasting. It is a time for looking forward to the future and to a new adventure.

 

For me, Chinese New Year has meant all these things, but I have also seen it as a chance to begin  again. This is especially true when you see it as a chance to begin the new year over again after the January 1 New Year. Many of us make New Year’s resolutions – to lose weight, to start a hobby, to work on a relationship, to be less critical, not to lose our tempers, to simplify our lives, etc. And, if you are like me, about two weeks into the New Year, you’ve already broken or forgotten or given up on those resolutions. Then Chinese New Year comes around at the end of January or in February and you have another chance, a new start. Maybe you restate your original resolutions, maybe you realize that they were hopelessly ideal and forget them, but whatever you do about resolutions, you are reminded that it can be a new start.

 

Actually, every day can offer a new start. Especially if we remember that the God Jesus reveals to us is a God who can and wants to offer us a new start. The God of creation wants to make us new  creations in Christ. I think this is especially important for those of us who have a tendency to get down on ourselves, to beat ourselves up because we aren’t where or what we wish we were. And sometimes we project that dislike of ourselves or doubt onto God. And this can especially happen when it come to forgiveness and our relationship with God. “God can’t or won’t forgive me for ….” We think. And so we find ourselves mired in guilt or hopelessness. But the good news is that every day can be a new start. Of course, it is more than a cavalier or casual asking for forgiveness and expressing our love to God and then going on doing the same thing over and over again, thinking that we can come to God as a kind of slot machine who dispenses forgiveness and renewal if we drop a coin in or say the right words. 1 John 1: 9 reminds us that if we confess (truly agree with God) that we have sinned (blown it -- fallen short of God’s desire and intention for us), God is faithful and just and loving and will forgive us of all our sins. It’s a great gift. But even with that promise and the reminders of God’s grace and care that come to us each day if we have the eyes to see, some of us still don’t get it. Somehow we think that the possibility of forgiveness and starting over doesn’t include me. Maybe some others can experience a new beginning, but not me. Jane Keiller says of this attitude, “If we deny God’s  forgiveness we demonstrate an extraordinary arrogance in believing that the cross is adequate for everyone else’s sin except ours.” It is arrogance and it is a shame because it keeps us from moving on. Instead of accepting this great gift and starting again, we keep score of those things that we feel God keeps score of. But God doesn’t keep score. Thomas Merton reminds us, “Quit keeping score  altogether and surrender to God who sees neither the score nor the scorekeeper but only his child redeemed by Christ.”

 

So, on this New Year’s day (and every day) let’s start over, begin again. It can be a new year, new  day, new life when we see ourselves as one beloved and accepted by God in Christ. And as Brennan Manning loves to say, “faith is the courage to accept acceptance.”

 

Happy Chinese New Year!!

“Silence and Solitude”

There is an old saying: “Tell me how you distribute your time and your money, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Not too far off. Our time and money say a great deal about us and our values. But what I am really thinking about today is the place of silence and solitude in our allocation of  time.

 

Let’s admit it. Most of us don’t really carve out intentional times of silence and solitude. Several years ago, Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea, pp. 43-44) wrote the following:

 

As far as the search for solitude is concerned, we live in a negative atmosphere as invisible, as all-pervasive, and as enervating [i.e. debilitating] as high humidity in an August afternoon. The world today does not understand, in either man or woman, the need to be alone.

            How inexplicable it seems. Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse. If one sets aside time for a business appointment, a trip to the hairdresser, a social engagement, or a shopping expedition, that time is accepted as inviolable. But if one says, I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone, one is considered rude, egotistical or strange. What a commentary on our civilization, when being alone is considered suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices it—like a secret vice!

            Actually these are among the most important times in one’s life—when one is alone. Certain springs are tapped only when we are alone. The artist knows he must be alone to create; to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray.   

 

When we think about silence and solitude words like “Boring!”,“That’s a waste of time”, “There are just too many things to do”,  “I don’t have time for that” come flooding to our mind. Yes, for some of us – the introverted—silence and being alone is a bit easier. We seem to be hardwired for such times. But how do we use those times? Often for sleeping, and sleeping can be good and the right thing to do during some of those times of solitude. But I’m interested in the place of silence and solitude in our spiritual life. All of us need silence and solitude.  Henri Nouwen has gone so far as to say, "Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life". That’s a strong statement. But Jesus evidently agrees. As we read the Gospels we see that Jesus’ life contained regular times of silence and soli­tude. David Runcorn (Space for God) comments that:  “His times alone were the commas, pauses and full stops in the story of his life. They gave the rest of his life its structure, direction and balance. His words and his works were born out of these hours of silent waiting on God.”

 

 

I think these times were so important in Jesus’ life and in the life of his followers because without solitude it is nearly impossible to hear the voice of God. There are so many voices clamoring for our attention, even those within our own heart, that without these intentional times apart we can’t really hear what God is saying to us. They are also important because without solitude the other disciplines of the Chris­tian life (prayer, worship, Bible reading, service, and sacrifice) will lose their effectiveness. This is especially true of the discipline of prayer. 

 

 

Silence enables us to be aware of God, to let our minds and hearts reflect on God’s truth and grace, to reflect on what is really important and takes priority in our lives. Silence can be scary and disconcerting because when we are alone with God we may become aware of some things that we don’t like, that we know that God doesn’t like. The tendency is to run – to get back to the familiar noise and busyness of the world. But if we do, we cheat ourselves and we weaken our relationship with God and our everyday life.  In silence all we have to do is be still, stay close and let God love us into wholeness.

 

 

Today is Wednesday, “hump day”, we are on the downside of the week. What are your plans for this weekend? How about some time for silence, solitude and waiting on God? Of course, you don’t have to wait until then. Peace.

“Deeper People”

Several years ago, Richard Foster wrote: “The desperate need today is not for greater numbers of intelligent people or gifted people, but for deeper people.” (Celebration of Discipline, p.1). We live in a world of superficiality. We see it all around us – in relationships, fashions, conversations, how we deal with social problems and issues, and even in spirituality. Our culture encourages us to be cautious about getting involved too deeply. We haven’t the time and things change quickly. The latest gadget reminds us that technology is all about innovation. Admittedly, many of these innovations have improved our lives and allowed us to free up time for other things. But the problem is that we fill this “extra” time with things that are often very shallow or held tentatively since we know that we will be moving on to something else pretty soon. There is something liberating about not being locked into the past and unable to change with the times or see and embrace “new” things that really are better and allow is to be live more humanely and comfortably in the world. But along with that freedom comes the temptation to superficiality.

 

Foster cites a quote from the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Coggan that describes many of us: “I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing to be taught how to meditate, to worship, to think.” It describes me. I don’t know why I often think that spiritual maturity and growth as well as contentment and wholeness simply come. Moving beyond a superficial faith, going deeper does require something of me and the first thing beyond the desire to go deeper is time. I am always amazed at how much time I spend reading or facebooking or surfing the web or working or watching TV, etc. compared to how much time I put in to deepening and solidifying my spiritual life. In the spiritual life I often settle for  superficiality and then complain when something happens that upsets and penetrates my shallowness: “Where’s God?” “Why me?” “Doesn’t God care?” “There’s got to me more than this!” But often, instead of pausing to look at my life and its shallow relationship with God and working on that, I cry out to God (not, in itself, a bad thing) or reach for my Bible for some quick verses and when I feel a little bit better, go on with life as usual. I’m like the person who is sick, takes the medicine, feels a bit better, and then decides that I don’t need the medicine anymore only to discover later that the problem was much deeper. Instead of dealing with the deeper issue (our need for God), we often deal only with the superficial, although real, symptoms. 

 

Coggan is right, we need to LEARN how to meditate, to worship, to think. And we could add pray and serve. And to learn something well it requires time, making time. But I guess making time and desire are closely related. What is it that I really desire in life? 

 

Two final thoughts: One from Larry Hein and the other from Thomas Merton (whose birthday was yesterday, January 31). My prayer for myself and others is that they will stimulate, discomfort, and comfort us:

 

“May all your expectations be frustrated, may all your plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son, and Spirit.” (Larry Hein)

 

“Happiness consists in finding out precisely what the “one thing necessary” may be in our lives, and in gladly relinquishing all the rest. For then, by a divine paradox, we find that everything else is given us, together with the one thing we needed.” (Thomas Merton)