perfect peace

We are broken. We don’t care like we ought to, and indeed we are too often part of the problem. Well, I speak with an “editorial we”, for myself. And I remember decades back a spiritual director (he was that, though we didn’t use that title) and friend telling me that I was an emotional cripple. And he was right.

Add to that, especially as we get older, we realize more and more that our days are indeed numbered. We might be reminded of that through this and that being wrong with us, or that possibility due to our genetics and experiences.

I was reminded of my mortality this week. My doctor said that I’m quite healthy, other than the fact that he did have to remove a mole that he said is likely Basal Cell Carcinoma, the most common kind of skin cancer, which is highly treatable, and the least serious form, but is still cancer (or at least I have that as a possibility, which we will know for sure once we receive the report from pathology). I had to get over the shock of that, being more dark complected, especially as a boy. And this means my chance of having the same form of cancer show up, is increased.

Enter God’s perfect peace. It comes and goes, but I certainly experience something of it along the way. God promises peace peace (literal translation of the Hebrew) to those whose minds are stayed on him, as they trust in him (Isaiah 26:3). And a peace from him that passes our understanding, as we entrust ourselves to him in prayer and thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6-7).

Peace in scripture fundamentally has to do with the well being of all creation occurring through the new creation in Jesus. It begins in this old creation, groaning as it is impacted by the fall. Beginning in and through us in Jesus. But in this already/not yet present, this peace will ebb and flow, it will come and go. But the deeper and truer we give ourselves to God by faith through Jesus, the richer this experience of peace as in well being, and inward tranquility, will become.

This is a part of Jesus, or the Jesus life, which by the Spirit we need to show in our lives, individually and in community in Jesus, to the world. The fruit of the Spirit which indeed is relational. From the Lord out to each other, and to others.

soulish praying

I like the concept Scot McKnight is aptly sharing on his blog, from Psalm 25 interacting with John Goldingay’s volume 1 commentary on the psalms. The concept of soulish praying. He describes prayer as “soul-ish wandering.” The idea is that we come to God and are before him just as we are. This is all part of true prayer. Then we come before God as he is, what he has done, and will do. And then back to us, then to him again.

Although in some ways I can identify with “charismatics” within the church, I can’t identify with the love for Watchman Nee’s (as great a teacher as he was) teaching of soul and spirit, so that he ends up making soul something of the flesh in a sinful way, while spirit is what is attuned to God, and meets God. If that is the case, then much of what we read in the psalms, considered the Hebrew prayer book as well as song book, we can dump. But that is not the case. The psalms are written to encourage us to pour out our hearts to God, to come to him just as we are, to find his salvation ongoing in our lives. Indeed a part of what we need day after day.

I am in deep need everyday in all sorts of ways. What if I could not go to God with all of those needs, including any struggle against sin, or failure? Because that is not spiritual, but soulish. That may be good Platonism, but it is not (good) Christianity. The Spirit will help us to pray according to God’s will. And will give us the heart and mind to do so. But we come to God in all our weaknesses, just as we are. We talk to our Father about our struggles and griefs, fears and concerns. All a part of our soul (= life), and all which indeed matter to God.

grace

As Philip Yancey tells us in his most excellent book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, grace is one word that has not been watered down, or virtually ruined due to misuse. Grace is rich in meaning, and one definition won’t do. At its heart it means gift, and the source is God. It begins in the God who is a giver by nature, evident in his work of creation and new creation through Jesus and his saving work for the world.

Grace is never divorced from truth. And it is set in reality, at home most in the real world, and ultimately transforming it through Jesus. Law and grace are spoken of together in scripture. That’s because grace does not live in denial of truth, but it also lives in the one who met the real world head on by his incarnation, life and ministry, death and resurrection.

Sometimes I think we Christians can live in grace denial. We believe in grace, yet we don’t think it covers all. When I think of grace covering all, I mean all of life. We think somehow that in some ways life is something we must negotiate ourselves. When God means for us to negotiate it on his terms in Jesus and through grace. Which means that no matter what we meet up against in life, we can know that God’s grace is present for us in Jesus. That God will give us all we need in Jesus.

We can and should rest in God’s grace for us, and to and for the world in Jesus.

discernment

John Frye, a pastor, writer, scholar, and Scot McKnight, a New Testament and Jesus scholar and professor, both bloggers and friends, have recently been highlighting the high place they think discernment occupies in the Christian life. Both the Holy Spirit and the parables of Jesus seem to indicated the premium God puts on this. The Spirit is moving and in a sense unpredictable, and is a person, and therefore personal. And that not only to us as individuals, but as those together with others in Jesus.  Parables were used both to conceal and reveal. To those who really had no heart for God and his ways, they would conceal. But to those whose hearts were opened to God, they would reveal, after some painstaking work in imagination. Jesus complained at his disciples for evidently not getting the meaning of his parables, asking them if their hearts were hardened so that they could not understand.

I do think discernment is a large part of what the outworking of the faith of Christianity involves. It is not so much rule oriented, though there are commands that are no-brainers such as, “Do not steal.” But at its heart it is interactive in following the Lord by the Spirit in community in mission. I think the heart of that is relational: to God, and to others. And having to do with love in those relationships.

Discernment involves scripture first, then tradition, reason and experience (called, the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” drawn from the writings and teaching of John Wesley). The last three may be in the order we would want to put them, but in reality, each are fallible. Whereas scripture itself as the word of God is not. However our interpretation of scripture would fit under the category of tradition, along with reason, and I think experience can and does affect it as well. And experience can involve feelings which arguably are intertwined with reason (stay tuned for an upcoming review on this book, which I think you’ll find interesting).

Discernment is needed to be learning how to walk in Jesus by the Spirit in everyday life. And it is needed when facing major decisions, or problems which leave one unsure on what to do, or how to respond. It seems like the idea of faith itself fits in well with the ongoing need for discernment.

I know I’ve thrown a lot out in this post over one subject. I find discernment particularly a need I have at this time. And I also see more than ever I think,  the need for it in our everyday existence.

How do you see discernment as important for life and  in your life?

more than conquerors

We are told in Romans 8 that no matter what comes our way, we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us. Of course the conquest here is not a worldly one by any stretch. It is akin to what is said in Romans 5, that through Christ’s saving work, we will reign in life through him. This reign and victory is in living this new life in Jesus in this old world. And doing so together as Christ’s one Body in the world.

This certainly pertains to our struggle against sin. At times we feel overcome, or condemned by the accuser of the brothers and sisters. Or guilty, because we have given into sin at some point, or points. Being more than conquerors in this life does not mean that we are sinless. It does mean that we don’t have to sin, and that when we do, we repent by confessing our sin to God and to another when appropriate.  Appropriate far more times than we evangelicals imagine, because of the priesthood of believers. At the same time, in one way or another, there are more than just the seven deadly sins (though they are adequate in themselves for this) we will struggle in. Struggling with sin is not something we like. We’d like to think that in Jesus we’ve arrived. But we haven’t. We must go on, pressing toward the goal of God’s calling for us in Christ.

And this pertains to the mission of God in Jesus. We are more than conquerors in the way of Jesus through Jesus who is the way. This means we are living in the work of God. Jesus himself calls us out of our heaviness into his light yoke of actually being coworkers together with him. We are called to live in the way opened up to us in Jesus. This is not simply for our salvation, but for the salvation of the world. We live in the way of Jesus, living out the gospel we profess and proclaim.

This also pertains to fulfilling God’s call to us as humans to work toward what is to be fulfilled through his kingdom when heaven and earth become one in Jesus. That involves creation care, and any number of things that are gifts in our lives in which God can be glorified. I believe my wife can do it with her gift of painting, as well as landscaping, the fruit of which I enjoy every day.

In Jesus to think we are less than conquerors is a lie of the devil. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Nothing can ever separate us from God’s almighty love for us, in Jesus. We are loved to the end, and we go on in that love, together, in the mission of God in Jesus for the world.

the politics of witness

My friend, Allan R. Bevere, a pastor, professor and New Testament scholar, often likes to remind his readers that we in Jesus as the church are called to the politics of witness, rather than the politics of power. This came to the fore with the quote I left from Martin Luther King, Jr., yesterday, providing a bit of stimulating feedback. Along with a friend on my Facebook also grappling with it a bit, with me.

We all have some sort of vision of how the world ought to be. For some on the “religious right”, the vision is not a world that is flourishing as in God’s kingdom vision revealed in scripture and coming in Jesus. But it seems more to be making the most good out of a bad situation. A case of living in the real world. Involved in that are wars, politics that involve compromise, settling for the time being with what is less than perfect, to move toward an ideal, which is not really the ideal of shalom as shared in scripture. That can’t be realized until Jesus returns. We witness to bring others to Christ, and we work at holding down evil in the world.

For those on the “religious left”, there is often a downplaying of “original sin”. There can be some sort of realism in place, but there is an idealism that is often related to the Enlightenment as much or more than to the kingdom vision of shalom. We find some of these believers pressing for acts from nations as if the nations were followers of Jesus, or more so in this case, followers of some worldly vision of progressive humanity, which over decades has more than fallen on bad times.

The politics of witness to which the church is called in Jesus must involve something more and better than either of these two alternatives. On the one hand we know shalom is not present on earth in all of its flourishing fullness until Jesus returns. On the other hand, we believe that in Jesus the kingdom is now present, and that in the church we can find the beginning of shalom at work within and from that even into this world. So that this witness, as incomplete as it is now, can impact this world for good. One notable case in point I think is the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” which took place in South Africa after apartheid ended. Many expected a blood bath. Instead there was a system set in place under the influence of Christians like Bishop Desmond Tutu in which wrongdoers were to confess their wrongs to their victims who in turn would forgive them. I think some sort of remuneration may have occurred when deemed appropriate. For all its shortcomings and imperfections, I think this is a case in point which brings something toward the flourishing of shalom in a broken, fallen world which awaits in Jesus, the new creation.

Just some preliminary thoughts on this. But what do you think? How would you express “the politics of witness”? And how does it contrast with “the politics of power”?

dealing with weakness

There are many things I won’t miss in this life, and one of them is the propensity toward weakness and sin. Just how readily we can be tempted, and how real those temptations can be, as well as subtle. I think of issues such as fear, anger, etc.

One important key for me is to realize that these things are only for a season. They don’t last; they come and go. That is, if we hold on in our faith, confess any sins to God, and stand in our faith in the grace and truth that is in Jesus.

I often think of my life as walking on water. Of course only by faith in Jesus. I am weak in myself, easily overcome by this or that. I find as I go on that it is good when I can appropriately share my struggle with my wife, or a brother in Jesus, or someone in the Body. At least asking for their prayers, and at times for their counsel. I am amazed at how God keeps me going through his grace in Jesus. Sometimes I may not be going all that well in the way of Jesus, but my faith remains. And in some ways through the storms ends up being stronger.

It is when one is under attack and can feel nothing but weakness that one can be tempted to bail out and give up and give in. No. Instead we must look to God through Jesus, as those in community with others in Jesus. Knowing that God will see us through as we look to him.

Martin Luther King, Jr. on the church as the conscience of the state

The church…is not the master or servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool.

Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted by Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, 238.

prayer

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer

little by little

If you’re like me, you have a tendency toward procrastination. Deadlines to meet, or things we need or ought to do are a part of life. And I doubt that meeting every one of them is as essential as some people might think. I’m reminded of Jesus’ words to Martha supporting her sister Mary for not helping get needed work done, but instead sitting at his feet, drinking in his words.

Just the same we do have responsibilities, things we really have to do sooner or later, as well as things we should get done. But this reminds me of thoughts that sometimes seem to be like flashes to me: I need to be in ongoing prayer for so and so. I need to take more time to simply be quiet before God, I need to keep reading, etc.

Rather than get lost in the immensity of all I don’t get done, I think I need to concentrate on what is essential, while working at the rest little by little. It is easy for me to get overwhelmed in what needs and should be done; there is always plenty, especially when one “owns” a house that is a bit older.

And in all of this I want to continue in what I think is God’s word to me right now: “Slow down.” And all that means for me. It is a nuanced word for me, and I have to work at understanding just what it means and involves in my life. But it certainly means first things first: relationships with God and with others.

Little by little I hope I’m moving in a good direction, and for sure keep working at making the one thing needed, my priority of life.