the gift and necessity of reason

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8

As I heard recently on a podcast, the emphasis on reason that remains with us from the Renaissance and the Enlightenment which followed is a blessing from which we have many gifts we take for granted today, such as modern medicine, which for all our complaints, is light years ahead of what was in the past, mortality being just one indicator of that.

We do have to be careful that we don’t make, as it were, an idol out of reason. As modernists found out, we won’t arrive to any final answer through reason, and they’ve made peace with that. But as the podcast I referred to pointed out, evangelical fundamentalists think that through reason they can prove the validity of the faith or more precisely for them, the Bible. While reason is a gift God has given us to use as we pore through Scripture, it can’t do what only God can do.

On the other hand, I think reason is often all but lost due to many things which effectually cancel it out. Like theology not worthy of the name. Misreadings of the Bible, for example in Genesis. Apocalyptic misapplications of passages like in Revelation, which end up casting out most all reason, being held captive to conspiratorial thinking or whatnot.

Reason is a gift from God, to be used not only in our reading of Scripture, but in all of life. Sure, there are many things we won’t be able to understand, but so many things that we will be able to reason through. We should try to apply logic in terms of comparison and contrast, and ask many questions.

Yes, as a friend reminded me, overthinking can be a problem, and I suppose I’m rather a prime candidate for that. But actually I often think due to laziness, or whatever else, I can be prone to underthinking, which might be good on an odd occasion or in a certain way as part of life. Not “ignorance is bliss,” but going on by faith, even when we don’t understand.

But as Paul reminds us in the above passage: There is so much both in the faith and in the world that we can and should think about. The terms from the Greek in the Philippians passage above seem to refer more to human culture than anything religious. And that actually is a blessing given to us. Maybe even akin sometimes to “thinking God’s thoughts after him.”

Advent and God’s help to ̶t̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶s̶e̶l̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶the helpless

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.

Isaiah 9:2

Light is coupled with life in scripture, and is indeed necessary for the life which truly is life, the eternal life in God through Christ, and the life to be lived in this present darkness. And God is the one who gives all light, and specifically, that light. What humankind comes up with may have some good with its actual source in God’s gift within them, but is not the “great light” spoken of in the text above. As we see from the rest of that text, that light is in Christ and the kingdom (or rule) and goodness he brings.

Yes, it’s good for us to try to help ourselves. But if what we mean by that is to get along well enough by ourselves, then we fail to see what we ultimately need, yes, in this life. All the while we should acknowledge that actually anything good we do is because of the Creator. But in our moral and spiritual darkness and in our limitations as human finite creatures, we really need more than that. It’s good and necessary for us to realize that we are helpless in ourselves to attain to this ultimate good needed. We are all, each and everyone of us, in need of God’s grace.

And that is what happened. God’s people and all peoples were actually helpless in the way needed, whether they were aware of it or not. And they looked for God’s help, and according to the promise for the one to come who would save the world. Part of the light which breaks through is to help us see the need for light in our darkness. And to look to that light for the full light needed. A part of the Advent promise.

what is life?

“No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.“

Matthew 6:24-34

I’m not sure what we think life is sometimes. For some it seems to be mostly about being entertained and going from one fun thing to the next. For others it’s more or less the grim reality of trying to survive with the sense that life is hard. For many it’s the desire to win the lottery so to speak, to be financially independent, able to map out one’s own life with minimal interference.

But what did Jesus say? Life for Jesus is about love for God and for neighbor, about seeking first God’s rule and righteousness. About being happy with having enough, and being unhappy until everyone else has enough. Being generous, realizing that all we have is a gift from God. About not hoarding what we have, but planning well so that our families are cared for, and so that our participation in God’s work in the world is enhanced.

Jesus’s words are not easy. They challenge us at every turn. To begin to rethink life itself. What it is for us in this present existence. Parallel to the existence to come.life

God neither wants nor needs any superstars

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

1 Corinthians 12:27

I’m not sure what it is, maybe an American thing, partly a western idea from the heritage of the emphasis on the individual, but it seems like there’s a premium put on “great” leaders whether they be in government, the church, or elsewhere. Everyone wants to hear the powerful or effective speaker/preacher. Or they want the (usually) man who can get it done in Washington or elsewhere. Superstars.

While God does give special gifts to Peter, Paul and Mary’s, etc., we have to remember that each of the originals, while in a formative time and situation were still part, albeit a prominently seen part, of the whole. Fastforward to our time, and we can think of leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., who certainly are wonderfully gifted. Women more often than not have been the leaders, such as Maya Angelou and many others. So it’s not like God doesn’t pick some to do work that is seen and noted.

But none of that would work apart from the body large. We are in this together, and dependent on each other. In Christ it is as his body of which he is the head, an ongoing healthy interdependence going on between each part of the body: the hands needing the feet, the feet needing the eyes, the eyes needing the mouth, and on and on. The entire body actually dependent on each part.

The impulse in us is so strong to think that we have to do it, a bunch of outstanding, rugged individuals. Maybe a kind of John Wayne mentality. “We can and will take care of it.” Instead in Christ we’re told to settle into our place and do well there doing what we’re called to do, along with others doing what they’re called to do, all together in love.

God neither needs nor wants superstars, but humble servants, always ready to serve with the help that Christ gives them. All of us together in this. In and through Jesus.

true security (and the love of money)

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly, for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If, then, you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts, for what is prized by humans is an abomination in the sight of God.

Luke 16:1-15

There is probably nothing more deceptive than money. “Wealth” in the passage is the word transliterated “Mammon” from a semitic word which probably means “that in which one trusts.” In the “enigmatic story” the Lord tells, the “dishonest manager” is praised by his master for being shrewd in reducing or cutting out his own commission to get himself out of trouble and perhaps gain new friends among his master’s debtors (The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version).

There are few things in life more deceptive than money. Sex, money and power are often said to be what commonly grips and moves people. All are deceptive. Jesus likens money, “wealth”, actually “Mammon” into an object which takes God’s place. People gravitate towards trusting in money rather than trusting in God. And those with a lot of money seem to be at rest, but actually there is no rest, because their tendency is also to want more and more, never be satisfied with what they have, live in fear of losing it, and hoard. When all the while God wants everyone, and the rich in particular are told this elsewhere, to be generous, willing to share, thus laying up for themselves a foundation for the life to come. And told in the same passage not to put their trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who richly gives everything for human enjoyment (1 Timothy 6).

Probably one of the most difficult things for anyone in our affluent, money-driven, profit-motivated society is to see all that we have as not strictly ours, but God’s. Not to do as we see fit, but to help the poor, those in need, the oppressed, our own families, as well as supporting good works: material and spiritual.

And we do need to handle whatever money we have, seek to avoid debt, and set aside funds for retirement or old age and for worthy causes. We realize that not a penny of it strictly speaking belongs to us, but it is God’s provision so that we can give generously to others and have enough for ourselves.  Like the manager in Jesus’s story, when it comes to money we need to seek and practice wisdom.

Prayer will be necessary to help us let go of our fascination or longing or grip on money. Money itself is not the issue, but loving money is. Our trust must always be in God. Remembering the poor widow who Jesus said gave in the offering all she had to live on. A radical trust in God that sees money as a means to a greater end, something which under God we’re stewards of. Individually and together as followers of Jesus.

simple living

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19; NRSVue

A staple of Anabaptist, Mennonite teaching is simplicity, to live what’s called “the simple life.” Within this tradition, the Amish are at least among the ones that have this practice down the best. When you consider the American context, it’s expensive to live because there’s so much money and space in the mix. And much of the economy depends on people buying what they can’t afford and actually don’t need.

Those who don’t have to worry the rest of their lives about having enough money still can only eat so much food. Yes, they can take in all kinds of expensive entertainment or whatever and eat whatever cuisine they want. But they really can use and enjoy only so much. Oftentimes these folks have way more than they either need or will use. While so much of the rest of the world does not have sufficient food or water.

Simple living involves an enjoyment of the ordinary things, seeing everything as a gift from God. And instead of wanting more and more and never being happy with what one has, learning to gratefully receive anything and everything that is good as a gift from God. And seeing that as enough. As Paul actually put it here, if we have what we need, food and clothes, we should be content with that.

While most of us many not be wealthy according to the American dream, we indeed are compared to the rest of the world. But that doesn’t exactly include everyone in the United States. There are too many who have to work more than one job and even then, can hardly make ends meet. And whose health care coverage is dismal in a nation with the best medical know how and one of if not the worst accessibility to it of all first world nations. Of course, the rich will get all they need and more.

When we have extra, we’re to be generous and help others who don’t have enough or are struggling or could use some help.

Our lives are supposed to be lived in simplicity because the essence of life for us is relationship with God through Christ and relationships with each other. As well as receiving every good thing as a gift from God and enjoying as well as seeking to be good stewards of all such gifts.

We’re to seek to do this together. In and through Jesus.

proceeding according to one’s gift

Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

1 Samuel 17:38-40; NRSVue

The first big event after David was anointed by Samuel to replace Saul as king of Israel is the account of David slaying Goliath. Maybe it’s still a mainstay with many children Bible story books, but not sure how parents should approach that passage today. It seemed innocent enough when I was growing up, but I wonder if it shouldn’t be included in the passages for more mature audiences. Of course, how such stories are told can make a big difference, too.

The point I want to take from this account is the simple fact that David couldn’t proceed the way Saul wanted him to in taking on the giant. David was a shepherd who knew how to wield a slingshot with stones to protect the sheep from predators, having become quite adept at such. To fight the way the Israelite army did was outside of his parameter; he had never been trained for such. Later he would be very much accustomed to normal warfare, and in fact because of the bloodshed in doing so, would not be allowed to build the temple. Though he was allowed to make important preparations, the actual building of it would be left to his son.

The point here is that David did what he was accustomed to. And we need to take that home for ourselves. What might work for others, may not work well for us. That’s not to say that we can’t learn new and better ways of doing things. But our gift is as different in operation as we ourselves are. We should never think that we have to do it exactly like someone else does, whose gift we admire. No. We should be happy to proceed in our own gift, how we do it, and let that develop. Maybe in David’s case, and probably quite likely, what he learned in protecting the sheep was somehow utilized in his later practice of warfare which may have helped set him apart, and perhaps could have influenced the mighty men as they were called in David’s fighting entourage. We don’t know since Scripture doesn’t say.

The point though is that we should be happy to use whatever simple gift we have in the simple way we do it. God gives such gifts and God is in them. We don’t want to do it differently, since when we do, we’re no longer operating in that God-given gift, so that God is no longer in what we’re doing, at least not in the same way. Something to prayerfully think about and try to apply. In and through Jesus.

be preoccupied with “the gold”

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8

In the internet, smartphone information age, we’re hard pressed to keep our minds on what really matters, what is special, what is true good. Our minds are often distracted in a thousand different ways, to what is seemingly necessary, or to a lot of things which are entertaining diversions at best. And in so doing, our mind is rarely if ever on “the gold.”

Only God can help us get our minds off what they need not be on, and on to what matters, what lasts, and what ennobles us. Everything else we need to learn to see for what it really is. We need discernment. We begin to see with God’s appraisal of things, appreciating all the gifts of God found in God’s image bearers: humankind. Along with understanding what really is bad, often a distortion of the good.

As we set our minds on this, God will help us. We need to accept the struggle rather than settle into the same old same old: the lies, deceptions, empty things which make a strong appeal to us in our broken, fallen state. We must persist to break beyond that, not expecting to do so at a snap of the finger, yet at the same time knowing that a turn in a different direction can make all the difference in the world, what is needed to really begin to see “the gold” and appreciate it more and more. In and through Jesus.

the need for self-understanding

…we are dust.

Psalm 103:14b

It is important for us to understand ourselves. Weaknesses. What helps us, what doesn’t. Strengths, too. To find where we excel as well as what helps us be resilient in the inevitable drama and trauma of life. To find our gifts, what we enjoy doing, what comes more or less natural to us, as well as what doesn’t.

Scripture tells us we’re dust. And that to dust we’ll return. But in and through God become human in Christ we receive the hope in the form of a promise of resurrection from a mortal into an immortal existence. And we’re taken up into a great family, God our Parent, Christ our Brother, the Spirit our love breath.

I really get tired of certain aspects of myself which are not what I believe God intends in the long run. Especially challenging to me is my propensity to worry about this and that and something else, everything else. I manage this much better than in the past. I realize that it’s important how I carry myself, not to be fake, but in faith looking to God to help me do better, trust in God, cast the burden on God, and experience some release from this. And that is happening more for which I’m thankful, but I’m still beset with a tendency to worry. Scripture addresses that. Though that helps I simply realize that this is a weakness that is part of who I am.

Thankfully we find that God accepts us completely just as we are. That should be the reason we can do the same. God helps us in the midst of our weaknesses, indeed the Lord’s strength somehow becomes evident in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12).   If God loves this dust made in God’s image, then we need to, too. Love each other, even ourselves. Know ourselves, and that the God who knows us completely through and through, completely accepts and loves us.

In and through Jesus.

blessedly slowing down to gather one’s thoughts (and more)

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Ecclesiastes is one of those books of Scripture which has always fascinated me, but also on which I struggle to get a handle on. The writer, mostly “the Teacher”- Qoheleth, takes us through a whirlwind of life experiences “under the sun,” with the conclusion that in the end none of it really satisfies. The book makes it clear that we should give ourselves fully to whatever our lot is, and enjoy the simple gifts of God. With the conclusion in the end that when all has been considered we’re to fear God and keep God’s commandments, with the realization that we will be held accountable for the choices we make.

All of us live in experience, even when we’re trying to understand Scripture texts. If we approach that correctly, it seems to me that it all has to do with life, yes life “under the sun” as we read in Ecclesiastes, as well as life in the context of God’s kingdom come in Jesus, present now, and to be consummated into its fullness on the renewed heaven and earth in the life to come. To want to escape from experience is not a good place to be. Instead we need by God’s grace to begin to get a grip on reality, on the true basics, we might even say basic basics. And set ourselves to live in that.

Fearing God is perhaps the most basic starting point of all. It’s simply the realization that God is the “Source of All Being,” the “Eternal Word,” and “Holy Spirit.”* We owe our existence and everything else that is good to God. And with that privilege to us humans indeed comes responsibility.

Jesus fulfills what none of us can accomplish ourselves, so that we can slow down, and blessedly let God catch up with our feverish, often misdirected steps. So that we might gather our thoughts so that we can begin to settle down on what is most important and what will bring us life. Out of the whirlwinds of the world and of our own making. Into the grace and peace of God. In and through Jesus.

*From morning and evening offices in Voices Together hymnal.