Abiding in the Word

"If you abide in My Word," says Jesus, "you are truly my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (Jn. 8:31).

 

There are two criteria given by Jesus for being His disciples: the first is abiding in his word; the second is the way "the world will know you are My disciples -- by your love for one another."  I am wondering if the second criteria depends on the first.  I am wondering if it is possible to love one another only by first abiding in His Word.

 

It is not knowing what Jesus said that transforms our rotten souls; it is "the Word spoken in [us]" that cleanses us (Jn. 15:3).  And to truly "hear" the Word spoken "in us," our hearts must be open; the Word must find a residence, a home, within us, so that not only do we "abide in the Word," but it truly abides in us.

 

Our natural condition is not "loving one another;" our natural condition is described pretty well in Galatians 5: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.....so I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want....but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us be directed by the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.

 

People who have no idea of the spiritual life (i.e. "living by the Spirit") imagine that the Christian life means somehow first reading the Scriptures and then "practicing the Scriptures," and in truth, this was the case under the Old Law, the Old Covenant.  This was the case with Saul before He met Jesus on the road to Damascus and became Paul--a new creature, born again of the Spirit of God. 

 

Until we are born again of the Spirit, until we begin to live by the Spirit, this is really all we have --- and God bless those who are faithful to what they know.  Unfortunately, human nature (my nature) being what it is, the demands of the moment most often over-rule what I have read in Scripture and what I have purposed in my heart and mind to obey.  I want to do what is right (see Romans 7), but something in me that is stronger than "I" am comes out of me instead: hatred, judgment, bitterness, rage, anger, spitefulness, immorality.

 

So what is the solution if I find myself (and who doesn't?) unable or unwilling to keep the Law of God?  Thanks be to God --- it has already been done for me by Jesus Christ, who crucified my human nature (my flesh) so that I could live by His Spirit.  And it is the Spirit of Jesus in me that makes the Word dwell in me to the glory of God.  It is the Spirit of Jesus in me that makes the words on the page dwell in my heart and mind --- as living words, not dead ones.  As words that "work" in me to accomplish the purposes of God in me. 

 

Until I was born again, the words of Scripture were beautiful, inspirational, but not "powerful" to me.  They did not live in me, changing me from within.  I was still in control of my life, and the power of sin still ruled within me.  Now, as John says, "No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him....No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in Him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God" (I Jn. 3).

 

"The word of God is living and active, more powerful than any two-edged sword" (Heb. 4:12).  If we abide in the Word, and if it abides in us, it will ultimately change our very nature from "human nature" to "divine nature."  The Word of God IS God, and does within us all that God does.  It is the Spirit that brings the Word (Jesus Himself) alive in our hearts.  After that, the words on the page are the ones we already know within, and just like little children who delight to "hear" the familiar words they already know in a Dr. Seuss book, we delight to read the words we have heard spoken to us by the Holy Spirit.  We "recognize" them as we read them, and they reinforce what is already deepest and truest in us because of the indwelling Presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

If Scripture is still a 'dead language" to us, and if we 'study' it as we do Latin, we need to ask for the Word to come alive to us through the new birth, whereby as God's dearly beloved children, we hear His words spoken to us, and they -- the Words-- cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 



The Words of Jesus - 2

Sometimes, if not always in this blog, I am writing to myself.  Yesterday, I wrote about the words of Jesus because they were coming off the pages of John's Gospel to me.  This morning, I decided to take just one chapter at random and mull over His words in that one chapter. 

Chapter 8 begins with the story of the woman caught in adultery.  There is much to be commented on in this story, but I want instead to focus on the testimony of Jesus about Himself later in the chapter.

I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

 

Even before we get very far into the chapter, we can begin to see why the Pharisees were looking for a way to put Him to death.  Either He is a raving lunatic, or He is delusional, or He is blaspheming -- from their perspective.  Who dares to say, "I am the light of the world..."?  This is supposed to be a "good Jewish boy" from a good Jewish family ---although there are rumors about His legitimacy, as suggested by their response to Him in v.41:  "We are not born of fornication," they tell Him. 

 

The Pharisees tell Him that His testimony about Himself is not valid.  Jesus counters them:  In your own Law, it is written that the testimony of two men is valid,  I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the one who sent me -- the Father.  In fact, there were three who testified about Jesus:  John the Baptist was the third one.  And of course, since His death and Resurrection, millions have testified that "He is alive," because they have met Him.

At that moment, however, the Pharisees wanted to know where His Father was.  "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied.  "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
....You are from below; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  If you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins.

The phrase "I am He" should have been familiar to the Scribes and the Pharisees.  Unfortunately, since it is not familiar to us, who are not familiar with the Old Testament, many translations tend to substitute words that "make more sense' to the modern reader.  But if we stick with the Greek translation, it will trigger a reference to Is. 43:10 and the following verses:

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord,

"and my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.

Before me no god was formed,

nor will there be one after me.

I, even I, am the Lord,

and apart from me there is no savior.

 

I have revealed and saved and proclaimed ---

I, and not some foreign god among you.

You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "that I am God.

Yes, and from ancient days, I am he.

No one can deliver out of my hand.

When I act, who can reverse it?"

 

Jesus told the Jews, "If you abide in my word, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free......You are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word....you are doing the things your own father does....Why is my language not clear to you?  Because you are unable to hear what I say.....if I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?  He who belongs to God hears what God says.  The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.....I tell you the truth...before Abraham was born, I am!"

 

That was all it took to accuse Him of making Himself equal to God.  Somehow, the Pharisees really heard what He said about Himself, while we as readers seem to miss it. 

 

You can see from the paragraph above, however, how powerful it can be to extract the very words of Jesus from the background story and to reflect on just the words themselves.  A great Lenten practice would be to take each chapter of John and "hear the words" that God speaks to us through His Son, Jesus.

 

 



The Words of Jesus

I tell you the truth: anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life (Jn. 5:24).

 

When I was growing up, every household more or less had a family Bible, some of which were like recorded family histories, with the names of parents, grandparents, and children born into the family.  Not many homes that I was familiar with actually used the Bible on a regular basis; mostly, it sat on a shelf and collected dust.  Occasionally, when I dusted the bookshelves -- a job I loved and that took me most of a Saturday morning -- I would open the big Bible and look through it.  I noticed that the words of Jesus were written in red, a practice I never really understood.

 

For one thing, the red print was harder to read than the black; for another, I found that the "words in red" interrupted the flow of the story and were more distracting than enlightening.  I tended to skim over them rapidly so as to get on with what was happening in the story. 

 

Actually, when we first begin reading the Bible, we tend to read much like this--reading as we would a novel, reading to find out "what happens next," and skimming over the words of Jesus as we would dialog in a novel.  After we have "read it," however, after we are familiar with the "plots" and the stories, we can afford to slow down and chew on the actual words of Jesus.  In the books of Isaiah and of Ezekiel, as well as in a few of the Psalms, we find references to "eating the scroll," or the Word of the Lord:  Your word came to me, and I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth, says Ezekiel.  "Open wide your mouth, I will fill it," says the Lord in one of the Psalms. 

 

When we finally stop reading for information and begin to take in, ingest, the words of Jesus for inspiration and transformation, everything changes.  The point is not to find out "what happens next," but rather to allow the Word(s) to change us from the inside out.  Now, the "words in red" can come to the forefront, allowing the story to recede into the background.  Now we are able to skim over the familiar story and slow down over the words of Jesus.

 

Scripture says (somewhere), "Even a child is known by the words he speaks."  If we want to truly know Jesus Christ, I think it important that we get to the point in our reading of Scripture that His words enter into our souls and minds.  I think that listening attentively to His words will actually change our souls and minds, for His words are Truth. 

 

He reveals in His words Who He is, Who the Father is, Who the Spirit is.  If we do not attend to what He says, it is doubtful that we can enter into Truth by our own ruminations about Who God Is.  In order that we might believe His words, He did mighty works, saying, If you believe not Me, believe the works: that you might know and believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me (Jn. 10: 38).

 

The works He did testify that He came from God and that His words were true.  I think He would tell us today to believe His words -- and today, unlike in His day and the centuries that followed Him ---His words are readily accessible to everyone who wants to know them.  What if, during Lent, instead of giving up chocolate ( a worthy sacrifice indeed), we instead began to feed on the words of Jesus, slowly and deliberately?  We might find a diet richer than chocolate and sweeter than honey to our souls.

Something to Think About

"The work of writing can be for me, or very close to, the simple job of being: by creative reflection and awareness to help life itself live in me, to give its esse an existant....

For to write is love: it is to inquire and to praise, or to confess, or to appeal. This testimony of love remains necessary.....simply to pay my debt to life, to the world, to other men.  To speak out with an open heart and say what seems to me to have meaning....the best stuff has been more straight confession and witness" (Thomas Merton, Journals: April 14, 1966).

 

As a teacher of writing, my goal was to give each student a voice... a way to describe his or her own journey in life.  In Merton's reflection quoted above, he refers to giving the "esse" of life an "existant."  The word "esse" (or essence) refers to the core of a thing or person, that which gives its meaning, without which it would not be that thing or that person.  And "existant" (or existence) is related to the word "exit"--- to move out of, or to "stand out." 

 

Writing is a way to move the deepest things, the most significant things of our lives, from the core of our being to the outside, to a place where we ourselves and others can examine, explore, invest in, probe, think about, and further develop the things that we find most meaningful.  One famous writer once said, "I write to know what I think."  Until we begin to engage in the struggle to put into words the things that are most meaningful to us, we hardly know what those things might be.

 

I would love to teach a not-for-credit class where people would come together to write the things that mean the most to them, and then to share them with others -- not for critique of writing, but for deeper discussion and exploration of ideas.  And one of the topics I suspect would be most explored would be the core of our religious beliefs.

 

I am always struck by the fact that the Bible is a book of stories, of journeys, rather than a book of "beliefs" or doctrines.  Yesterday, I was talking to a woman who teaches a very popular Bible study at her (Methodist) church, a study that has grown to around 36 weekly attendees.  Later, as I was thinking about it, I began to think not that I would like to attend her class so much, but rather that I would love to hear her "story," her journey of faith that led to this point.  For obviously, with such a large attendance, there is more to this class than doctrine---there is a personal connection to the Truth she teaches.  And that is the story I want to hear.

 

Even when I watch Shark Tank, what interests me the most is not the principles (or "doctrines") of business the "Sharks" espouse, but rather their personal stories of how they came to espouse their theories.  I want to know their journeys from "a one-thousand-dollar-loan" to building a vast empire of real estate.  For to me, why you believe what you do is more important than what you believe.

 

Abraham, unlike his pagan neighbors and uncertain Hebrew family, did not believe in child sacrifice to appease God.  So here we have two conflicting views: those of the pagans (and the 'uncertains') and those of Abraham.  Which one should we choose?  How about the one who himself made the journey to the altar and was intercepted by an angel?  How about the one who can thenceforth personally testify that God does not desire the sacrifice of children, but who still desires that we surrender our children into His hands?

 

I have no interest in "interfaith dialog," but I have a great deal of interest in the stories of those who believe what they do.  If they have no story, in my opinion, all they have is the testimony of others --- which I do not discredit --- but sooner or later, God will say to each one of us, "I am the God of your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"; in other words, "the God you have heard about from your fathers."  "But now," the Lord says, "it is between you and Me. From now on, this is personal.  This is the encounter for which your religion has been preparing you."

 

I have heard "The man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument."  So, unless there is encounter and experience with the Living God behind a belief, unless there is a "why" behind the "what," I take the belief with a grain of salt.  That is why I am sooooooooo grateful for the Bible, the stories of those who walked with God, and why I am sooooo grateful for the stories of those like St. Augustine, St. Francis, St. Therese, Thomas Merton and all those whose stories -- not just their "beliefs" ---- have become available for our perusal, for our thought, for our in-depth exploration.

 

When I hear the stories of others, it matters not to me whether they are Catholic, Methodist, Muslim, Jehovah's Witness, or Buddist.  I know I am hearing the "esse" of their existence, the core of who they are and why they believe what they do.  I know I am hearing the action of the Living God upon their souls, and I recognize the Presence of the Holy Spirit re-creating them as He re-creates the world in which we live. 

 

The journey of Abraham, of Jacob, of Israel itself is the starting point for Biblical Revelation of Who God Is --- the One Who leads and accompanies us and brings us to the end of our journeys.  And that is a story which deserves to be written.

Wonder and Awe

One of my colleagues at the Community College once remarked to me that he thought the reason we worked was to meet the people with whom we would spend eternity.   What an absolutely lovely thought that was! 

This morning, as I sat looking out the window and drinking my tea, I ran my tongue over my teeth, thinking with wonder and awe about how perfectly they were all constructed and lined up:  The front teeth have smooth, even edges; the eye teeth have jagged edges and deep grooves for grabbing and tearing, while the back teeth lie rather flat with edges designed for grinding.  I was reminded of a verse from the Living Bible (a paraphrased version) which says, "My body, too, knows full well that You are my God!"  I often think of that verse when something goes physically amiss, and I need healing.

The experience of the moment reminded me of a brief presentation one of my colleagues gave in a mentoring session.  As a Ph.D. biologist, Barbara was absolutely one of the best teachers at the college.  I had often sat in on her class, just to observe mastery teaching and to learn from her.  On this particular day, she gave a 10-minute lesson from biology; the rest of us were observing her teaching techniques. This was one way we could all receive feedback on our teaching and also learn from one another. 

As Barbara began her lesson, she asked us to notice our fingernails.  Then she told us to feel a strand of hair, and finally, she directed us to run our tongues over the inside of our cheek, feeling the smooth texture of the surface.  Once we had done this, she amazed us with the lesson.  She told us that all three very different surfaces  contained exactly the same constructive material, which she represented as ABC. The differences were obtained by different arrangements of the same material, as for example, BCA, or  CBA.  By the time she reached the end of her presentation, all of us were overcome by wonder and awe at the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of the human body.

There are so many times that what I learned from Barbara comes back to me with the same wonder and awe, as I contemplate the construction of not only my own body, but the physical universe.  Later, Barbara joined with me and another colleague in a different (national) presentation on the simplicity and complexity of a college "universe," with the interactions of faculty, students, and administration, and the direct symbiotic influences of all three on one another.  The purpose of the presentation was a plea for 'faculty evaluation' to be a humane and supportive process rather than a judgmental and critical one. 

As I look back today over the experiences of my life and the people with whom I worked, I see even more clearly how beautifully we were all "put together;" how wonderfully our "ABC's" were differently constructed so that the body of our corporate life would function, each one dependent upon the others.  I am grateful not only for the perfect alignment of different teeth in my mouth, but for the even greater "perfect alignment" of different people in my life -- all of whom contributed knowledge, wonder, and awe to the task we faced together.

On one level, I see how each tooth is constructed in such a way so as to benefit the body as a whole.  On the greater, universal, level, I see how each person at the college contributed to the health of the body as a whole.  What a privilege it was to be part of that endeavor and to get to know intimately the gifts and talents each one brought to the task! 

Unfortunately, not every corporate endeavor works like the human body.  Even at the college, there were a few whose thought was not for the good of the whole, but only for themselves.  They were, in a sense, "tearing and grinding" at the body instead of "for the good of the whole."  These are the ones, I suppose, that Jesus told us to 'shake the dust off our feet' as we left them, having nothing more to do with them.

I remember today those who worked together, who in different ways contributed to the health of the whole body -- to one another, to the students, to the smooth operation of the whole college-- with wonder and awe, with immense gratitude, with praise and thanksgiving that I came to know such as these.  For they are the ones with whom I will spend eternity -- and then we will all see together the results of our labor!

Knowing God

This is eternal life: that they should know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou didst sent, even Jesus Christ (John 17: 3).

 

 

Simply put:  eternal life is knowing God.  In the book of Ephesians, Paul asks God to grant us "the spirit of wisdom and revelation" that we may know God.  When Paul passed through Athens, he saw an altar with the inscription: "To an Unknown God."  In the minds of the Athenians, God was considered unknowable -- they did not believe they could find Him by searching with their minds.  Even with their many philosophies, they did not think they could understand God.

 

We still have "Greeks" among us, people who say either that we "cannot know" God, or we cannot know if He exists.  Yet, as Jesus was about to depart from this earth, He plainly stated that we could know Him.  And John's Gospel states at the very beginning: No one has ever seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known. 

 

Such knowledge comes through revelation only:  Because we are sons, God has sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts, crying out "Abba! Father!"  Our knowledge of God is deeper than thought and deeper than feeling.  This knowledge does not rely on how logical the reasons or how clear the doctrines; it relies only on revelation.

 

We can ask for the spirit of revelation, according to Jesus:  Everyone who asks, receives; everyone who knocks, to him the door will be opened; the one who seeks will find....for the Father knows how to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Matt. 7).  And Jesus promised that when the Spirit comes, "He will take from what is mine and make it known to you."  Jesus certainly knew the Father, and He certainly seems to want us to know what he knows also in this regard.

 

It is such a joy to know the Truth about God, based on the words and promises of Jesus Christ, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit living within.  If we cannot trust Him to tell us the Truth, there is no hope in this world.  I would certainly not trust anyone else to tell me the Truth about God -- but knowing that He has sent His own Spirit to dwell within me, to lead me into 'all truth," I know that I can know God.  The arguments of all the world's philosophies have no impact on one who has the Spirit of God within him:

 

I will put my law in their minds

and write it on their hearts....

No longer will a man teach his neighbor,

or a man his brother, saying, "know the Lord,'

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,"

declares the Lord (Jer. 31: 33-34).

Dysfunctional Families

The history of the world according to Genesis is the history of dysfunctional families.  Unlike the "old" hagiography, "The Lives of the Saints," which tended to present models of people without flaws, the Bible is not so much the story of "what happened," but rather of "what happens."  It is the story of today, written with ancient pens.  We are not given "models to imitate," but rather accounts of real flesh- and-blood people with all their warts. It is not "their" story that we ultimately are reading, but "our" story-- the story of what God can do with someone like "Jacob" whose very name in Hebrew means "cheater, grabber, usurper."  The study of Genesis is a fascinating account of the work of the Holy Spirit upon human nature.

From the beginning, Adam should have been protecting Eve from the serpent, but he stood by silently and allowed her to be seduced, and she in turn seduced him into disobedience also.  When he faced the Grand Inquisitor, he blamed his wife.  As the older brother, Cain's role should have been that of protector, but instead he was consumed with jealousy -- to the point of murder.  The whole book of Genesis is rife with family betrayal.

Abram sells his wife to Pharoah to avoid personal danger; later, he will banish Hagar and Ishmael to the desert to keep peace in the family.  The rivalry between Esau and Jacob is so great that Jacob must flee his home  --- but it is on his journey that He comes "face to face" with God, and ultimately, it is only because he sees the face of God that he can at last face his brother in peace:  "Your face to me is like the face of God," he tells Esau, who falls on his neck with many kisses and tears. 

Reconciliation -- it happens only when we ourselves have been reconciled with God that our patterns of family rivalry and domestic violence are overcome.  The brutally honest stories of Genesis are those of family betrayal, jealousy, and violence.  Our families are the places where we behave at our worst and where we are least likely to seek reconciliation.  Yet, the warfare that begins with sibling rivalry is intergenerational -- it is passed on to the next generation with even greater consequences.

So what is the solution to such basic family dysfunction?  If we can learn anything at all from the Book of Genesis, we learn what God said to Abram:  "Leave your people and your father's house, and come to a land I will show you."  We must "go out." "go away" from the dysfunction and journey with God long enough for Him to transform the inner dynamic that has heretofore shaped our lives.  Only then can we return to our starting place, as did Jacob, without repeating the "empty way of life handed down to us by our forefathers,"  Only then do we have any prayer at all of changing familiar (and familial) patterns of behavior. 

Many times it has been said that the "Acts of the Apostles" should be called the "Acts of the Holy Spirit," because it is principally the Holy Spirit who is "acting' in that book.  In the same way, we probably need to stop reading the "stories" of patriarchal families and instead start reading the story of God's action on the most basic of all human interactions -- the dysfunctional family.

God told Abram that "all the families of the earth" would be blessed through him.  And part of John the Baptist's mission was "to turn the hearts of fathers toward their children."  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could only see the healing hand of God in our own families?

The Comforting Arms of God

Last night, I read To Heaven and Back: A Doctor's Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again by Mary C. Neal, M.D.  Dr. Neal and her husband had gone to Chile with some friends for a kayaking vacation.  Her husband, not feeling well the morning of her accident, had decided to wait for the party at the out-take area.  In the meantime, one of the kayakers had gotten into trouble at a waterfall, her craft being hung up on one of the boulders half-way down.  Immediately afterwards, Mary's kayak hit the waterfall and lodged itself under the other boat, face down, with the full course of rushing waters falling over her head and shoulders.  Pinned in her boat, she could not release herself because of the force of the falling water, nor could she release her boat from under the other one.

Knowing she was about to die, she turned to God, asking only that His will be done.  Immediately, she was "overcome with an absolute feeling of calm, peace, and of the very physical sensation of being held in someone's arms while being stroked and comforted.  I felt like I imagine a baby must feel when being lovingly caressed and rocked in his mother's bosom.  I also experienced an absolute certainty that everything would be okay, regardless of the outcome" (p.56).

Reading those words last night brought me back to the moment in late January 2010, when I was standing in my back yard surveying the freeze damage and pondering the work I would have to do that spring to restore the yard.  Suddenly, it was as if a bubble of peace softly descended around my entire body, and I knew for certain that I would not be doing that yard work.  At the time, I thought that meant I was going to die, and my very calm response was, "All right; just give me time to clean out the attic and the clutter so my husband and children will not have to do it."  Immediately, I went inside and started emptying boxes from the attic. 

That incredible peace remained with me throughout the next few months, when I subsequently found out that I had lung cancer, when the surgeon sent me home to die because there was nothing he could do, when he changed his mind at the insistence of the pulmonologist and performed surgery, and when I was in recovery.  I was going through the motions, but nothing disturbed my peace during the entire time.  When the pulmonologist first announced that he thought it was cancer, I said, "Okay."  A few moments later, he said again, "I think this is cancer."  "Okay," I said again.  "Aren't you upset by that?" he asked.  "No," I said, "but my husband will be." 

Like Mary Neal, somehow I knew that whatever happened, I would be okay.  I had the same experience she had of the soothing, comforting, resting-in-the-arms of God peacefulness.  There was nothing that frightened or upset me during the whole time, even when the surgeon told me on the way into the operating room that "the best time to die is during surgery, because you are not aware of what's happening."  I laughed and told him not to tell that to any of his other patients as they were being wheeled into surgery.

Amazingly, I did not even worry about what would happen to those left behind, because I instinctively knew that the same arms that held me so securely would also hold them close.  Unlike Mary Neal, I did not die and go to heaven, but after a few weeks of recovery, I thought to myself, "I guess I'm not going to die; I'd better figure out what else I'm going to do."

Corrie Ten Boom reportedly said, "I hope that I never lose the sense of the nearness of God that was with me throughout my experience in the concentration camp."  When I tell you that this is not an "idea" or a "doctrine," but a physical sensation, I hope you believe me.  "God is close to the broken-hearted, and those downcast in spirit, He saves."  Even before I had had time to hear bad news or become downcast in spirit, He went before me with His shield and His protective peace:  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.....Your rod and your staff, they give me comfort....You prepare a table for me in the presence of mine enemies." 

Jesus Calling for Feb. 12 says this:  My Spirit, who lives in you, helps you to think My thoughts.  As your thinking goes, so goes your entire being.

I am convinced that our healing lies in the comforting arms of God, Who embraces us when life threatens to overwhelm and destroy us.  It was not that I was thinking beautiful or "positive" thoughts throughout my bout with cancer; I was thinking practically nothing at all --- just as I imagine a baby being held by his mother is not thinking his way into peace, but just resting securely and peacefully in her strong and protective arms. 

"Hey, You!"

Some years ago, I took a course on the Torah, taught by a Jewish scholar from the University of Jerusalem.  What a wonderful course it was!  On the first day, the teacher asked each of us to comment on what it was about the Bible that fascinated us.  My answer was that I was intrigued by the "Hey, you!" aspect of the bible, from beginning to end. 

What I meant by that was that from the very beginning, God was always "choosing" people -- for no apparent reason -- and that His choosing was always a surprise to the chosen ones.  It was as if I were walking down the street minding my own business when out of the blue someone yelled "Hey, you!  Yeah, you!  Come here!"

God's first "official chosen" one was Abraham, a man taken for whatever reason is not told us from a pagan culture, a man not especially "good," a man like us prone to mistakes and mis-judgments.  He was followed by other men not especially "good:" Moses, David, Gideon, Jacob, Jeremiah, Samuel, Jonah, Isaiah, and in the New Testament, Peter, Matthew, James, and Paul.  God is always choosing people for some reason known only to Himself -- and that includes the entire race of Israel itself. 

What He chooses them FOR is evidently character development and transformation.  First, they have the experience of being chosen or elected, and they usually balk:  "Why me?"  Abraham had to walk with God for many many years before Isaac was born-- the child of the promise. 

God needs people who are usable as instruments of His design.  To begin with, the instruments need to know that they are not alone, not just "doing their own thing," but "chosen" to do God's thing in this world.  The first lesson they all have to learn is "I will be with you."  Someone once told me that God does not need my "ability," but my "availability."  It is those who have no clue as to what they are supposed to do or how to do it that God can use.  "Just walk with Me," He seems to say; "I will show you the way."  Psalm 32:8 puts it this way:  I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; let me guide you with Mine eye" (or alternate translation:  "I will counsel you with My eye upon you."

That is why I am fascinated by the "Hey, you!" aspect of the bible -- people minding their own business and utterly stunned by the call of God:  "Please take someone else!" they seem to say; "I don't know my right hand from my left;" "I don't know how to speak;" "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man/woman." 

"Yes, I do mean you!" the Lord replies; "I can use you.  Don't be afraid."  It seems to me that all these people are not afraid of God; they are afraid of their own weakness, sinfulness, inability to be faithful to the call.  The "chosen" ones are all quite flawed, as is evident in their stories -- and yet, God's call and His choice are irrevocable, as is also quite clear.  It is not that God likes them better than He does other people, or that they are more worthy than anyone else.  The paradox is that He "...chooses the weak and insignificant things of this world to shame the proud and the strong."  And it often takes us a long time to realize that. 

God's "choseness" is for the sake of communicating choseness to everyone else!  "If He can use me, He can use anyone," is the message.  We lead others to the depth that we ourselves have been led, and if we do not start at ground zero, we cannot help those who find themselves at that level.  "He led me out of darkness into His marvelous light" the book of Peter tells us.

The pattern of "Hey, you!" continues down to our day.  The church itself learns slowly; popes have been slow learners; those in the pews learn slowly that they are "chosen," -- not to the exclusion of others, but to reach those in the back pews, those who feel barely worthy to enter the door.

We have no ability to communicate to anyone else that they are good or special or loved by God until we ourselves have learned it strongly -- and we know it because while "we were yet sinners," we were chosen.  Once we realize that it was not our 'specialness' that led to our being chosen, we can relax and promote the empowerment and specialness of others.  Only the Beloved can pass on Belovedness.

If we do not understand this, if we do not experience it for ourselves, we tend to think of religion as "excluding the unworthy, the impure."  Religion is not the society of the superior ones; it is the gathering of those upon whom God has forgiven and shown mercy, the gathering of the weak and the wounded -- those who can testify from personal experience how God can transform and heal a scarred life.

We were called to be "starter yeast," or leaven in a hurting world.  We are the audio-visual aids that point beyond ourselves to a bigger, stronger reality than our weakness and woundedness:  "I did not come for the healthy, but for the sick," He said.  Not so they could remain sick, but so that in their renewed health and resurrection from the dead, they could proclaim the wonders and the healing love of a God who loves the weak and wounded.

Poverty of Mind, Body, and Spirit

It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him (Gen. 2)

 

We are born helpless.  As soon as we are fully conscious (and physically somewhat independent), we discover that we are lonely.  We need other people physically, emotionally, intellectually.  In some ways, we cannot even know what we know without other people -- and we cannot even know ourselves except who we are in relationship to others.

 

The great temptation of Satan in the Garden of Paradise was "ye shall be as gods" -- that is, wise and independent enough to decide for ourselves what is good and what is evil -- to choose for ourselves what is good for us.  "You don't need God," he proposed to mankind; "you only need yourself, if you are smart enough, wise enough."

 

The great gift given to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was His basic assumption that we needed Him, that we were not "sufficient unto ourselves."  "Be strong, be independent, be wise," our world advises us:  "Stand on your own two feet."  And yet, Jesus proclaimed that we would approach God most nearly when we were least like God, when we most needed Him --- Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy-burdened, He said, and I will give you rest.  In the Old Testament, He said, Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

 

Mankind's highest, healthiest, most realistic spiritual condition is one of poverty, of need, of total dependence on God.  To know that we are not sufficient unto ourselves is true wisdom: God hears the cry of the poor! 

 

The Scriptures tell us that "Christ became poor for our sake;" He became "poor" in His absolute need for and reliance upon His Father and upon other people.  We see in Him Divine Life operating under human conditions -- He was hungry, and dependent upon other people for His food.  Hence, the "temptation in the wilderness" to turn stones into bread, so that He would not have to be dependent on the Providence of God to feed Him, nor upon the sensitivity, generosity, and good will of other people.

 

He was exhausted by daily life, by the harsh roads, by the crowds and their clamorous and insistent demands; He would fall asleep and stay asleep in the midst of a life-threatening storm until awakened by His disciples.  He had no privacy, no peace; He was constantly interrupted; He had to get up early, before dawn, to find time for prayer.  For our sake, He gave up His independence and became totally dependent upon God and upon other people -- even for a place to "lay His head."  Perhaps that is one reason He so loved to be at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  My guess is that they provided for Him a few moments of respite, of peace, of good food, and of the joys of human comfort.

 

It is so good to finally lay down our own sense of independence and know ourselves to be "needy," to be dependent and grateful for our need -- of God and of other people.  Then we can relax, no longer having to put up a strong front.  We can be free to laugh at our own foibles and inadequacies; we do not have to be "perfect," "wise," or "strong."  We can know ourselves weak and helpless and insufficient for most of life's tasks. 

"Blessed are the Poor in Spirit," Jesus said, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  The kingdom is given to those who know their need for God and for others.  Those who have no need for God and for other people cannot enter; they are sufficient unto themselves -- and indeed, this is 'hell,' to be imprisoned in our own sufficiency, and to need no one else.

 



A New Pentecost

Reading the Journals of Thomas Merton, I now know why God sent "A new Pentecost" on the church in the 1970's.  Although I was too young to see it at the time, the church of the 60's was a holy mess -- and, although all the theologians and spiritual leaders of the time knew it, no one had the slightest idea of how "reform" could possibly take place.  Thank God, He knew how! 

It was not to be through a new movement, or a new theology, or a new Roman Curia, but only through the new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those "little ones" who had no learning or power to reform anything --- just as in the beginning, when the leaders of the church noted that Peter and John were "unlearned men who had been with Jesus." 

To believe in a new Pentecost is to believe in the silent, secret, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit in us as individuals, and in us as the Body of Christ, bringing about in us and for us the whole and perfect will of God for our lives and for the life of the church -- to trust Jesus to do in us the work we cannot do for ourselves, but that He has already begun in us.  This is the meaning of faith:  You will bring about in me Thy Kingdom, and through me, to the world around me.

The church is the vessel of the Holy Spirit in the same way, and to the same extent as, the individual person is -- to the extent that it cultivates and does not neglect the Presence of the Holy Spirit, no matter where it is or what it is doing.  God is the only One who can bring His Kingdom to earth; if His Spirit is not in us, we "build" in vain.

Within the church (any church) and outside of the church, there are those who live and walk with the Spirit of God, and those who live and work with human energy. It is not difficult to tell the difference, for we have been given a list in Galatians 5 of the "fruits" of the Holy Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, and self-control.  Where these are absent over the long run, the Spirit is not present.

The whole purpose of religion -- any religion, Christian or not -- is to provide an opening, an avenue, a highway, for man's encounter with God.  When it succeeds in its mission, people come to know the Living God in the way that Moses encountered Him in the desert, in the way that Hagar knew Him as the "One Who Sees Me," the "One Who Hears Me."  As Jesus Calling says today, "Your main responsibility is to remain attentive to Me, letting Me guide you through the many choices along your pathway."

I wonder how many faithful church-going Christians have never experienced an encounter with God.  I know they are good people, but as C. S. Lewis says, that is not the purpose of religion -- to make good people; there are many good people who never go to church and who claim no religion.  I think Msgr. Giordano said it best when he said, "Jesus did not come on earth to found another religion, but to bring us new life, the Life of God Himself, the Life lived by the Holy Trinity: the communion between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

If he is right, and I believe he is, then that Life can be communicated to us ONLY by the Presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  The church is "church" only insofar as she welcomes that Presence and cultivates it among the believers.  Our need for a new Pentecost is new every generation:  Come, Holy Spirit!

The Power of God

Mark this:  There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God --having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them (2 Tim. 3).

 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts. 1).

 

Recently, our small Bible study group listened to a tape by Joyce Meyers, entitled "The Wonderful Holy Spirit."  In the talk, Joyce mentioned that she had gone to church for years and years and, even though she was taught doctrine about the Holy Spirit, and knew intellectually Who the Holy Spirit is, no one ever told her that she could have "power" through the Holy Spirit.  Even though she defined that "power" as "the ability to live the Christian life," at the end of the tape, several people in the group reacted negatively -- they really did not want "power." 

 

It is unfortunate that we automatically connect the word "power" with "authority" or "control over others," when the power of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do at all with that kind of power.  Until we know for ourselves our own powerlessness to live the Christian life, we will not want or appreciate the power of the Holy Spirit.  So many of us believe we can "imitate Christ" when we have no power in ourselves to even know what God wants of us.

 

What we are given through the Spirit is the "power" or "ability" to love as God loves, to see things from His point of view; we are given His character as we yield to the operation of the Spirit within us.  In fact, not only are we not given "power" over others; we in fact are given the "power" to yield to others.  We are given the "power" to be transformed into the image of Jesus, the Image of God. 

 

Once we understand this kind of power, we run to ask for the power of the Holy Spirit to do in us what we cannot do for ourselves.  We want Jesus Christ to be LORD of our lives, to allow Him to direct us in all our ways, through the Holy Spirit.  Someone long ago told me of a doctor who "does not get up and walk around the corner without first praying about it."  I thank God for that doctor, who was the first one to pray over me for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  What happened after that prayer was life-changing, not because of anything I did for myself, but for what God did for me through his prayer!

 

Unfortunately, in most of our churches, we do not hear about the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives -- in fact, we tend to be afraid of this "power," just as my friends were afraid of it.  However, in parts of the world where Christianity is not "business as usual," the power of the Holy Spirit is still being manifest today, just as it was in the Acts of the Apostles.

 

Yesterday, someone handed me a book by Afshin Javid, a devoted Iranian Muslim who found himself in a squalid jail cell in Kuala Lumpur.  He and some friends escaped from Iran with forged passports, heading to America and Canada, where they could "tell others about the true religion of Islam."   However, they wound up on a flight to Kuala Lumpur, where they had to wait to be smuggled to the next phase of their journey.  Eventually they were jailed on the charge of illegal migration. 

 

After many months in prison, realizing that in Malaysia there were no 'human rights' and their lives mattered to no one, they figured they would eventually die in that cell.  Javid devoted all his time to studying and teaching the Koran and praying to Allah.  However, one evening, when the others were asleep, a strange spirit approached him.  Previously, Javid had contacted the "Jinn," an alternate spirit world to curse his enemies or to help him in other ways, much as Voodoo works in some areas.  Now, the Jinn was present, but only to kill him -- and he knew it:  In the same manner that I had called the Jinn to hurt others, so also were they attacking me.  Feeling himself being choked to death and gasping for air, Javid called out "God, Help me!"

 

Immediately, he heard a voice in his head, clearly and distinctly:  "Bring the name of Jesus," it said.  As a Muslim, this made no sense to him, but as he was about to die, he grabbed the only rope being offered.  "Jesus, if you are true, show me yourself!" he cried.  Before the sentence was finished, the spirit was gone.  Now, confusion set in --- Why would Jesus help a Muslim? Javid asked himself over and over.

 

I will not give away the "rest of the story," as Paul Harvey used to say, but the book, called As Easy As Drinking Water, is an amazing story of the power of God to reach someone even in the worst cell on earth.  The rest of the book reads exactly like the Acts of the Apostles.  It is available at www.WinePressbooks.com or at 1-877-421-7323.  The back of the book also has an e-mail address for Javid:  www.afshinjavid.com.  Needless to say, I did not put the book down until I had finished it.  I would encourage everyone to read this book, if only to resurrect our belief in the "power" of God to work today just as He worked in the early church. 

 

The only Power I want is the Power, or the ability, to tell others that Jesus is alive and among us even today, just as He was in the 40 days before the Ascension.  His Presence with us today is The Holy Spirit -- and it is just as powerful today as it was 2000 years ago.

Who is God to you?

The reason so many people find prayer difficult is that they often think of it as a sort of St. Vincent de Paul or Ozanam Inn line, where the poor come to request the necessities of life:  "Please help me! I am desperate!  I have nowhere else to turn.  If you do not help me, I am lost!"

Now, clearly, there is nothing wrong with this kind of prayer -- in fact, it is often this very prayer that brings us into the Presence of God and to recognition that He is there to supply what we so desperately need.  It was this kind of prayer that animated people in Jesus' day to come to Him, and once they had met Him, then they could recline on the mountainside to listen to His Sermon on the Mount or His other teachings.

But once we have met God, or once He has met us in our direst need, prayer becomes, in the words of Teresa of Avila, "loving discourse with One who we know loves us."  Mary told the visionaries at Medjugore, "Pray until prayer becomes joy for you."

If prayer would be "joy" for us -- and indeed, it is, more satisfying than our daily bread -- then we need to acknowledge Who it is we are praying to.  Many people never get beyond the vague term "O God...."   But Who is this Person we address as "God?"  Who is the "God" to Whom we pray?

One of the best and most satisfying prayers has nothing to do with requests; rather, it is a loving and peaceful catalog -- I hesitate to say "list" -- of the terms that apply to our God:  O Truth!  O Loving Kindness!  O Mercy and Justice!  O Bending Ear to the cry of the poor!  O Compassion for those who have lost their way!  Blessed is the One who has stooped down to free my feet from the snare!  O my shield and my very great Reward!  Blessed is He who has drawn me from deep waters and rescued me from the enemy too strong for me!  Blessed are You who brought me out into a spacious place and enabled me to stand upon the heights!  You have armed me with strength, and broadened the path before me so that my ankles do not turn! (Ps. 18). 

If anyone does not know where to begin with this kind of prayer, I suggest Psalm 18, not just 'read,' but prayed, slowly and meditatively.  You might notice that in the praises above, there was a shift, almost without my realizing it, from 3rd Person to 2nd Person.  This is the same shift that takes place in the 23rd Psalm:  The Psalmist begins by saying who the Lord is -- his shepherd:  "He makes me to lie down in green pastures...He restores my soul."  The writer speaks of his God in the 3rd Person.  However, within just a few verses, he shifts to the Second Person:  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me....You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

This is the natural progression from praise to thanksgiving, adoration, worship.  We do not even notice we have made the shift from talking about God to talking to Him, from describing Who He is to us to thanking Him for Being Who He is to us!  The meditation for Feb. 2 in Jesus Calling says this:  Seek My Face, speak to Me, and I will light up your mind!  When our prayer is seeking the Face of God, miraculous things happen!

This is why God wants us to praise Him -- not because He is greedy for our praise, but so that He can become for us all that He desires for us.  If we do not know Him as "Shepherd," "Shield," "Reward," "Strength," "Goodness and Mercy," "Truth" and "Kindness"  -- then He will not be those things for us.  If we will not read Scripture, we will not have the words and phrases to know God; we will be limited in our prayer life to what other people have told us  -- and often, their ideas are not God at all, but only their ideas of God.  Of course, once we have encountered Him for ourselves, as did Moses, Joshua, the judges of Israel and the prophets, as did the saints -- then, we no longer need "a man [to] teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord (Jer. 31:34).

I leave today with the reflection from Jesus Calling, which I think can be applied to the different kinds of prayer:

I am renewing your mind!  When your thoughts flow freely, they tend to move toward problems.  Your focus gets snagged on a given problem, circling round and round it in attempts to gain mastery.  Your energy is drained away from other matters through this negative focus.  Worst of all, you lose sight of Me.

 

A renewed mind is Presence-focused.  Train your mind to seek Me in every moment, every situation.  Sometimes you can find Me in your surroundings: a lilting birdsong, a loved one's smile, golden sunlight.  At other times, you must draw inward to find Me.  I am always present in your spirit.  Seek My Face, speak to Me, and I will light up your mind.

Watching the Sunrise

This morning, as I watched the sun rise in all its great glory, I thought about the daily gift of the sunrise and the sunset.  I have heard that people drive from all parts of the country to park their RVs on the coast, just to watch the sunsets in Southern Mississippi.  One couple told me that not even Florida can boast of the kind of sunsets the Gulf Coast offers.  Even our 5:00 news every evening reports on the sunset, showing it as a regular part of the newscast.

It took C.S. Lewis' Reflections on the Psalms to make the connection for me between the rising of the sun and the "law of the Lord," as expressed in Psalm 19, which Lewis calls "the greatest psalm in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world."  Unfortunately, that connection is rarely seen, for the use of this Psalm in our church services usually includes only the first 4 verses:

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day, they pour forth speech;

night after night, they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the earth.

 

Even if we did read the entire Psalm, however, it would be difficult to see the connection between the first half of the poem and the second, which begins, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul."  As in much modern poetry, the words themselves provide no logical connection between the first and second movements.  In Lewis' analysis, unlike the modern poet who wants us to find the connection for ourselves, the ancient poet felt such an identity between the sections that he moved effortlessly and without reflection from one to the other.

 

First he thinks of the pageantry of the sky and how it shows the splendor of the Creator.  He thinks of the sun, the glory of its rising, and its unimaginable journey from east to west.  Finally, he thinks of its heat, searching out every cranny, from which nothing can hide.  It pierces everywhere with its purity and strength.

 

Then, suddenly, in v. 7, he is talking about 'the law of the Lord," so like the all-piercing, all-detecting sun in its course across the heavens.  The Law is as pure as sunshine; it gives light to the soul; it is clean and everlasting; it is 'sweet." 

 

When the Jewish scriptures speak of the "law of the Lord," they mean much more than what we imagine to be "law."  They are referring to the instruction that comes from God, the guidance for purity and right living, the revelation of God's nature and of His heart.  The Law includes, but does not stop with the commandments; it is what we might think of as "the law of the household" in which we live.  It includes both spoken and unspoken "law," such as kindness, respect, courtesy, helpfulness, etc.  In short, what is expected of all the residents of that house -- the rules of the game, so to speak.

 

Lewis says of Psalm 19 that "No one can improve on this and nothing can more fully admit us to the old Jewish feeling about the Law: luminous, severe, disinfectant, exultant.....As he has felt the sun, searching him out in every nook of shade where he attempted to hide from it, so he feels the Law searching out all the hiding places of his soul."

 

I need to quote at length the conclusion of Lewis' reflection on the Law:

 

Insofar as this idea of the Law's beauty, sweetness, or preciousness, arose from the contrast of the surrounding Paganisms, we may soon find occasion to recover it. [Note: Lewis wrote this well before the rise of Al-Quaida and ISIS, but his words now seem to be prophetic.]

Christians increasingly live on a spiritual island; new and rival ways of life surround it in all directions, and their tides come further up the beach every time.  None of these new ways is yet so filthy or cruel as some Semitic Paganism.  But many of them ignore all individual rights and are already cruel enough.  Some give morality a wholly new meaning which we cannot accept; some deny its possibility.  Perhaps we shall learn, sharply enough, to value the clean air and "sweet reasonableness" of the Christian ethics which in a more Christian age we might have taken for granted.  But of course, if we do, we shall then be exposed to the danger of priggery.  We might come to "thank God that we are not as other men."  This introduces the greatest difficulty which the Psalms have raised in my mind.

 

Having read Lewis' analysis of Psalm 19, it is now very easy to see the connection of the second movement to the first:

 

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul.

The statues of the Lord are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure,

enduring forever.

The ordinances of the Lord are sure

and altogether righteous....

By them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward....

 

As for me, watching the sunrise this morning reminded me of the line from Lamentations that says, "...His mercies never fail/ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness, O God./  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him,/ to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."