Recently we have been reflecting on what it means to imitate God in the way that the gospel suggests we should. We talked about imitating his forgiveness, his patience, and his love. I mentioned last week that I felt that we needed to pause in the midst of these reflections in order to consider the dynamics of how God makes us able to imitate his character and we took note of this staggering truth: when we come to follow Jesus, in a deeply mysterious, deeply spiritual way, Jesus himself - through the invisible but powerful work of the Holy Spirit - comes to live his life in and through us. We went on to talk a bit about how that mind-bending truth does not immediately feel like good news to some of us or many of us. At least for some of us at many times in our life we would rather not think of Jesus being so close to us at all times and in all places. However, I insisted that we come to see this truth that Paul summarizes as “Christ in you the hope of Glory” as really very good news, an essential aspect of the gospel.
This is what we said about that last week in summary fashion. From the homily recap from last week:
“Building on these thoughts in the homily I remarked that we need to hear and believe that Jesus’ intimate presence with us at all times is really good news. I simply don’t think many of us think about passages like “Christ in you: the hope of glory” as good news. For many of us the thought of Jesus’ intimate presence with us makes us uncomfortable or ashamed. But we know that Jesus is comfortable in our skin because he is 100% committed to helping us become who we are meant to be by calling us back to ourselves over and over again, tirelessly reminding each of us of his love for us. It is vitally important for us to learn to recognize the truth of Christ’s presence in and among us as good news and cultivating the discipline of speaking and hearing the good news as a spiritual good in and of itself. As Saint Paul says to the Romans, “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’
Let’s move on in our discussion though and consider together how our response to this good news can help us grow. I suggest that it is our response to this aspect of the gospel (Christ in your the hope of glory) that can help us relate to ourselves, our fellow human beings and the rest of the world more and more in the way Christ has related himself to us. Lets flesh that out some.
In the history of the church’s discussions about spiritual formation there is a great tradition of talking about God’s desire to make us holy - be holy as he is holy. This discussion often has touched on the great thought that God is intimately at work within us to make us holy. However, sometimes when people have talked about this they have emphasized that the main thing on God’s heart when he thinks of us is that he wants us to be sin free like he is. And so the discussion immediately becomes about working in overdrive to get rid of sin, a conversation that quickly turns into moralistic emphases that invite people to run towards perfectionism on the one hand, or denial, on the other. Despair or apathy often accompany a moralistic emphasis. There is also a tradition, though, of talking about being holy as God is holy as being more like Jesus. This approach is a good one I think but the discussion of imitating Christ can often fall into vagueness and platitudes. What I want to suggest to you is that the first step to becoming holy like God is holy is to recognize the way in which God has revealed his holiness to us. When Paul calls the Philippians to a deeper experience of God’s holiness he tells them a story. It is the story of who God is and how God is, what is often referred to as the Christ poem:
Philippians 2:1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was* in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Then, later in the same chapter, Paul gives an example what this self-emptying looks like in a person within their community of brothers and sisters in Christ. The person he offers as that example is Timothy whose life is characterized by not looking to his own interests but to the interests of others.
2:19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. 20I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22But Timothy’s* worth you know.
In Timothy’s life, the mark of God-likeness is that he lived according to the patten of the same self-emptying that characterizes God’s nature as revealed in Christ. This is what, in turn, gives us a clue as to how God makes us holy. For God, the movement of self-emptying reveals his holy character; God is who he is by giving himself away. For us, self-emptying takes the form of receiving this self-giving, self-emptying love - of being inhabited by it. God, from all eternity, has existed in a dance of love given and received perfectly between Father. Son and Holy Spirit, Now, in Christ, God has included us in that dance!!! But for us growth in holiness comes from the dance - a tango of God leading us in self-emptying, self-giving love complemented by our reception of the same. For God, self-giving love is who he is. For us, self-emptying love is who we are becoming as we continue in the dance.
For us to keep our feet and bodies faithfully in the dance - and this is how I hope we will avoid the vagueness and platitudes I warned against earlier - we need the additional movements of confession and supplication. We confess when we resist God’s self-giving love and we beseech God to give us a deeper desire to experience his self-giving love from day to day. However, we must develop the discipline and habit of specific confession and specific petition - generalities are not enough. Here are some examples of specificity. If drinking too much keeps us from being alert and alive to the love and care we want to give and need to give to friends, loved ones, and work, then God's mercy needs to wash over that aspect of us as we confess and petition; if our flashes of anger make people afraid to approach us then we need God's mercy to wash over that aspect of us; if our sexual fantasies are robbing us of our capacity to enjoy genuine love and affection then we need God's mercy to wash over that aspect of who we are. It is the process and the trajectory of repenting of our resistance to God’s self giving love that yields the fruit of holiness. Last week we said that we need to remember that hearing the good news as good news is a vital spiritual discipline in and of itself. This week we added another layer: naming our sin, naming our lack of experience in and participation in God's self-giving love around specific sins of omission and commission will shine light in places that were dark and help hope take root where there was previously apathy or despair. We need to start recognizing our movement towards holiness as God's purifying work in us and not allow our imperfection, incompleteness, and continued sinfulness to tell a story about us that is not true. Our story is Christ in us, the hope of glory!
1. Why does a moralistic approach to holiness lead many to despair or denial?
2. Why does simply saying that we should imitate Christ lead to vagueness and platitudes?
3. Can you think of certain things you should be confessing of in particular that you have left too vague and general in the past?
4. Does the metaphor of the dance help you to think through what growing in holiness might look on a daily basis in our lives?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Jesus is Comfortable in Your Skin
The other day my wife and I went with a friend to hear a very special concert. This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Bluesman Robert Johnson and the rock band Big Head Todd performed and hosted a tribute show at the CSO. In a sense Todd from BHT was more of a curator that night than a performer, deliberately playing a supporting role, as the legends Hubert Sumlin and David Honeyboy Edwards took the stage to play - Sumlin at 79 and Mr. Honeyboy at 95. When these two artists took up their instruments the first thing that struck me was how at home they were with their instruments; they were so comfortable in their skin. It is a really wonderfully enriching things to see people who are comfortable in their skin. The author, Ernest Hemmingway, in his reflection on his creative process in his book, A Moveable Feast, talked about how he liked to write while he was out and about at cafes and such and around people doing what they did well, whether it was fishmongering or what not - it gave him inspiration to see people comfortable in their skin.
If I were to tell you that Jesus was comfortable in his skin - God in the flesh - at home with human beings, totally undivided in his mission to bring redemption to the human race and this fallen world, you would be with me I think. There is something that sounds right about that thought; I could get an amen on that. But I want to remind you of something even deeper as we come to this table this morning, as we prepare to feed on Christ in our hearts by faith, as the liturgy puts it. I want to remind you that Jesus is at home in your skin too. Our reading from Colossians puts it this way: the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Jesus is at home in your skin because what brings him joy is helping you become more fully human, more of who you long to be, more of who God desires for you to be. As we repent of our sins, as we confess the ways we have run away from Christ’s redeeming love while turning in on ourselves, we must always remember that Christ is right there with us, comfortable in our skin, calling us back to ourselves, our true identity in Christ, the person we long to be. As Saint Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians, “and all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” When God calls us away from sin he is not only calling us to himself but he calling each of us to our true self in Christ.
Building on these thoughts in the homily I remarked that we need to hear and believe that Jesus’ intimate presence with us at all times is really good news. I simply don’t think many of us think about passages like “Christ in you: the hope of glory” as good news. For many of us the thought of Jesus’ intimate presence with us makes us uncomfortable or ashamed. But we know that Jesus is comfortable in our skin because he is 100% committed to helping us become who we are meant to be by calling us back to ourselves over and over again, tirelessly reminding each of us of his love for us. It is vitally important for us to learn to recognize the truth of Christ’s presence in and among us as good news and cultivating the discipline of speaking and hearing the good news as a spiritual good in and of itself. As Saint Paul says to the Romans, “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’
1. I gave an illustration from the TV show “What Not To Wear” this Sunday when I was trying to help us understand how Jesus feels about. The way in which people encounter grace helps them undergo a transformation in how they see their selves. I suggested that Jesus wants us to grow in holiness because growth in holiness means that we are growing towards being the best of who we are meant to be as unique human beings. If you had to give an illustration of what God’s love looks like towards you when you are a mess what illustration would you offer?
2. I have suggested that growth in the gospel necessitates that we speak and hear the gospel regularly and that we learn to recognize what counts from scripture as good news. Do you feel that there are some parts of scripture that you might ought to hear as good news but can’t. What keeps you from hearing good news as good news?
If I were to tell you that Jesus was comfortable in his skin - God in the flesh - at home with human beings, totally undivided in his mission to bring redemption to the human race and this fallen world, you would be with me I think. There is something that sounds right about that thought; I could get an amen on that. But I want to remind you of something even deeper as we come to this table this morning, as we prepare to feed on Christ in our hearts by faith, as the liturgy puts it. I want to remind you that Jesus is at home in your skin too. Our reading from Colossians puts it this way: the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Jesus is at home in your skin because what brings him joy is helping you become more fully human, more of who you long to be, more of who God desires for you to be. As we repent of our sins, as we confess the ways we have run away from Christ’s redeeming love while turning in on ourselves, we must always remember that Christ is right there with us, comfortable in our skin, calling us back to ourselves, our true identity in Christ, the person we long to be. As Saint Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians, “and all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” When God calls us away from sin he is not only calling us to himself but he calling each of us to our true self in Christ.
Building on these thoughts in the homily I remarked that we need to hear and believe that Jesus’ intimate presence with us at all times is really good news. I simply don’t think many of us think about passages like “Christ in you: the hope of glory” as good news. For many of us the thought of Jesus’ intimate presence with us makes us uncomfortable or ashamed. But we know that Jesus is comfortable in our skin because he is 100% committed to helping us become who we are meant to be by calling us back to ourselves over and over again, tirelessly reminding each of us of his love for us. It is vitally important for us to learn to recognize the truth of Christ’s presence in and among us as good news and cultivating the discipline of speaking and hearing the good news as a spiritual good in and of itself. As Saint Paul says to the Romans, “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’
1. I gave an illustration from the TV show “What Not To Wear” this Sunday when I was trying to help us understand how Jesus feels about. The way in which people encounter grace helps them undergo a transformation in how they see their selves. I suggested that Jesus wants us to grow in holiness because growth in holiness means that we are growing towards being the best of who we are meant to be as unique human beings. If you had to give an illustration of what God’s love looks like towards you when you are a mess what illustration would you offer?
2. I have suggested that growth in the gospel necessitates that we speak and hear the gospel regularly and that we learn to recognize what counts from scripture as good news. Do you feel that there are some parts of scripture that you might ought to hear as good news but can’t. What keeps you from hearing good news as good news?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
God's Justice and Ours
This week we followed up on a remark I had made recently in a homily regarding the justice of God. When we were considering God’s call for us to be imitators of his forgiveness of us I mentioned that one of the things that gets in our way of being able to forgive more like God forgives is that we often imagine that we are called to not only imitate God’s forgiveness but also his justice.... this is what I said about that in the recap of two weeks ago: “Here is the problem though - there is no way that we can imitate God’s feelings of justice towards people and this is why. God cannot think of justice without thinking of love and the cross of Christ, whereas our thoughts about justice are too often bound together with thoughts of retribution and personal offence.” This Sunday I wanted to expand a bit on the theolog of God’s justice by trying to hone in on what motivates God to seek justice. In this context Iurged us to think about God’s justice as defined by his love. Now this is no new topic at Grace and we have cited a great quote by Miroslav Volf several times in the past where he makes just that point. Here it is again:
"Justice demands nothing less than the undoing of the world, past and present, and the creation of a new world.... A world of perfect justice is a world of love. It is a world with no rules in which everyone does what he or she pleases and all are pleased by what everyone else does; a world of no rights because there are no wrongs from which to be protected; a world of no legitimate entitlements because everything is given and nothing withheld... a world with no equality because all differences are loved in their own appropriate way; a world in which desert plays no role because all actions stem from superabundant grace. In short, a world of perfect justice would be a world of transcended justice because it would be a world of perfect freedom and love. The blindfold would be taken from the eyes of Lady Justice and she would delight in whatever she saw; she would lay aside the scales because she would not need to weigh or compare anything; she would drop her sword because there would be nothing to police.... If we see human beings as children of the one God, created by God to belong all together as a community of love, then there will be good reasons to let embrace - love - define what justice is."
As I said, we have cited this great quote before at Grace - so nothing new there; however, what may be new for some of us is to think about the implications of this as we consider what actually motivates God to be just. I suggested that God’s motivation in judgment and in his promising to bring justice to bear on this world comes from a loving desire to see things put right - a desire for shalom. His motivation in all of this is not to satisfy his anger and does not come from a desire to even a score. Retribution is not the motivator with God’s judgment. Here again, Volf is helpful:
“How is God’s love related to God’s judgment? God’s love has different effects on people depending on the basic orientation of their being and the moral character of their deeds. When we do what is right (basically, when we love) we experience God’s love as delight and approval, as God’s face shining on us. When we do what is evil (basically, when we are indifferent or harm others) we experience God’s love as wrath and condemnation - not because God does not love us but so that the loving God can return us to the good from which we have fallen. Whether God’s love is angry with us or delights in us..... God loves us with the same unchanging divine love rooted in, and indeed identical with, the very being of God. That is why those who remain in love, and thereby remain in God, have confidence in the day of judgment and need not fear.”
Finally, I encouraged us to think about how this knowledge of God’s judgment being rooted in his love might enable us to think differently about our desires for others. I suggested that sometimes we have dark fantasies of a God who will satisfy his anger by wiping out his enemies; not surprisingly the enemies are usually our enemies or people we just fear. I suggested that we should pray that God shape the desires of our heart according to his desire to put all things right through a judgment rooted in the love of all peoples.
Questions for discussion:
1. Are you more likely to see God as one who desires to get even to protect his honor or as one who, because of his love, will not allow evil to prevail?
2. If someone were to ask you whether you thought God delights in sending people to hell what would you say?
3. Can you think of a relationship in your life that has been negatively impacted because you imagine that God despises them? This can either be someone you know very well or someone you know hardly at all.
"Justice demands nothing less than the undoing of the world, past and present, and the creation of a new world.... A world of perfect justice is a world of love. It is a world with no rules in which everyone does what he or she pleases and all are pleased by what everyone else does; a world of no rights because there are no wrongs from which to be protected; a world of no legitimate entitlements because everything is given and nothing withheld... a world with no equality because all differences are loved in their own appropriate way; a world in which desert plays no role because all actions stem from superabundant grace. In short, a world of perfect justice would be a world of transcended justice because it would be a world of perfect freedom and love. The blindfold would be taken from the eyes of Lady Justice and she would delight in whatever she saw; she would lay aside the scales because she would not need to weigh or compare anything; she would drop her sword because there would be nothing to police.... If we see human beings as children of the one God, created by God to belong all together as a community of love, then there will be good reasons to let embrace - love - define what justice is."
As I said, we have cited this great quote before at Grace - so nothing new there; however, what may be new for some of us is to think about the implications of this as we consider what actually motivates God to be just. I suggested that God’s motivation in judgment and in his promising to bring justice to bear on this world comes from a loving desire to see things put right - a desire for shalom. His motivation in all of this is not to satisfy his anger and does not come from a desire to even a score. Retribution is not the motivator with God’s judgment. Here again, Volf is helpful:
“How is God’s love related to God’s judgment? God’s love has different effects on people depending on the basic orientation of their being and the moral character of their deeds. When we do what is right (basically, when we love) we experience God’s love as delight and approval, as God’s face shining on us. When we do what is evil (basically, when we are indifferent or harm others) we experience God’s love as wrath and condemnation - not because God does not love us but so that the loving God can return us to the good from which we have fallen. Whether God’s love is angry with us or delights in us..... God loves us with the same unchanging divine love rooted in, and indeed identical with, the very being of God. That is why those who remain in love, and thereby remain in God, have confidence in the day of judgment and need not fear.”
Finally, I encouraged us to think about how this knowledge of God’s judgment being rooted in his love might enable us to think differently about our desires for others. I suggested that sometimes we have dark fantasies of a God who will satisfy his anger by wiping out his enemies; not surprisingly the enemies are usually our enemies or people we just fear. I suggested that we should pray that God shape the desires of our heart according to his desire to put all things right through a judgment rooted in the love of all peoples.
Questions for discussion:
1. Are you more likely to see God as one who desires to get even to protect his honor or as one who, because of his love, will not allow evil to prevail?
2. If someone were to ask you whether you thought God delights in sending people to hell what would you say?
3. Can you think of a relationship in your life that has been negatively impacted because you imagine that God despises them? This can either be someone you know very well or someone you know hardly at all.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
God's Patience and Ours
Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Last week we could have just as well entitled the homily God’s forgiveness and ours because one of the main things we concentrated on was the relationship between our being forgiven by God and the way in which growing in our experience of God’s forgiveness enlarges our capacity to forgive others and our desire to forgive others. I also invited us to think about the way in which forgiveness is important in a foundational sense to our growth in other spiritual disciplines. This week we looked at God’s patience and ours, noting that as we learn to recognize God’s patience with us we can be more patient with ourselves and with others. I also suggested that learning to be patient with oneself can be one of the most important things one can do for those one loves and cares for because the one who is learning to patient with herself can more easily be patient with others.
Henri Nouwen talks about patience in this way:
“A waiting person is a patient person. The word “patience” means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her womb.”
Part of what I think is suggested or, at least presupposed, in what Nouwen is saying is that the goal, as we walk with God in this world, is to be headed in the right direction. Each moment of our life is open to God’s love, wisdom, and forgiveness; living honestly with the truth of who God is and the truth of who we are in those moments keeps us on the path. We never imagine we have arrived in this life but find God’s presence to be a faithful companion on a long journey. On the journey patience manifests itself as we confess in any given moment that there is something hidden going on, that God’s work will indeed endure in our life and the life of our world. This is what we do each week in the sacrament of communion; in that holy moment we confess the hidden reality of God’s work in our life and we remind each other that the path we are on is the path of life, of human flourishing.
Growing in patience by learning to see each moment of our life in God’s presence helps us over time to be able to sit with the messes in our life instead of fleeing to ephemeral pleasures designed to distract us from the messy reality of what is going on in our lives. Also, growing in patience helps us to remain present and engaged with those around us instead of demanding they be “put together” in the way we imagine, hypocritically, that they ought to be.
Questions for discussion:
1.If you were trying to put the Nouwen quote in your own words and explain it to someone what would you say?
2. What is the difference between being patient with yourself and being too "easy on yourself?"
3. What does it look like to be willing to suffer with the brokenness in yourself and others in a patient way?
Last week we could have just as well entitled the homily God’s forgiveness and ours because one of the main things we concentrated on was the relationship between our being forgiven by God and the way in which growing in our experience of God’s forgiveness enlarges our capacity to forgive others and our desire to forgive others. I also invited us to think about the way in which forgiveness is important in a foundational sense to our growth in other spiritual disciplines. This week we looked at God’s patience and ours, noting that as we learn to recognize God’s patience with us we can be more patient with ourselves and with others. I also suggested that learning to be patient with oneself can be one of the most important things one can do for those one loves and cares for because the one who is learning to patient with herself can more easily be patient with others.
Henri Nouwen talks about patience in this way:
“A waiting person is a patient person. The word “patience” means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her womb.”
Part of what I think is suggested or, at least presupposed, in what Nouwen is saying is that the goal, as we walk with God in this world, is to be headed in the right direction. Each moment of our life is open to God’s love, wisdom, and forgiveness; living honestly with the truth of who God is and the truth of who we are in those moments keeps us on the path. We never imagine we have arrived in this life but find God’s presence to be a faithful companion on a long journey. On the journey patience manifests itself as we confess in any given moment that there is something hidden going on, that God’s work will indeed endure in our life and the life of our world. This is what we do each week in the sacrament of communion; in that holy moment we confess the hidden reality of God’s work in our life and we remind each other that the path we are on is the path of life, of human flourishing.
Growing in patience by learning to see each moment of our life in God’s presence helps us over time to be able to sit with the messes in our life instead of fleeing to ephemeral pleasures designed to distract us from the messy reality of what is going on in our lives. Also, growing in patience helps us to remain present and engaged with those around us instead of demanding they be “put together” in the way we imagine, hypocritically, that they ought to be.
Questions for discussion:
1.If you were trying to put the Nouwen quote in your own words and explain it to someone what would you say?
2. What is the difference between being patient with yourself and being too "easy on yourself?"
3. What does it look like to be willing to suffer with the brokenness in yourself and others in a patient way?
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