FREEDOM!

More than 50 years ago, Josef Pieper published a book titled Leisure, the Basis of Culture.  His book turned out to be one of the most important philosophy titles published in the 20th century.

According to Pieper, leisure is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. Pieper shows that the Greeks and medieval Europeans, understood the great value and importance of leisure. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure -- a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture. Pieper maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure, and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture -- and ourselves.      (Barnes and Nobles' online review of the book.)

The story of the Exodus is the primary story of the Jews; God commanded them to celebrate and to re-tell, generation after generation, the story of their deliverance from slavery roughly 2000- 1500 years before the birth of Christ.  And, as it turns out, there is a definitive reason for embedding the story within annual ritual and re-telling.  It is the story not only of the Jews, but of all humanity.  Israel is humanity personified:  what happened to Israel is what happens to every person who sets out on a journey of faith.  [This pattern is characteristic of Biblical history -- the Bible is more about what happens than it is about what happened.  It is our history, not just Jewish history.]   The story of Israel also describes the experience of every person liberated by God.

Here is the way Richard Rohr explains the connection:

The stories of Exodus make religious sense to people only to the extent that they are converted, only to the degree that they are walking the journey of faith.  If you are walking in the Spirit and listening to the Spirit, you can relate these stories to your own life, you can identify with the experience of Israel.  The person who is alive in the Spirit can recognize spiritual things.  If, on the other hand, you are playing a social game called religion or an academic game called theology, this story will never speak to you ( The Great Themes of Scripture, p.20).

 



According to Moses standing before Pharoah, the slave-owner and master of the Israelites, God wanted Egypt to "set my people free, that they might go into the desert and worship Me."  Now here is a great truth which most people today do not see -- until we are free from the things that enslave us, we are not free to worship God.  No true worship occurs in slavery to the things of this world.

 

When we live in fear or bondage to the past -- to the trauma we have experienced as children, to the fears that were embedded in our hearts and minds--- when we have become enslaved to habits of sin and addiction, etc. -- we are not free to worship.  We are chained to old habits and to the past habits of reacting to the world around us.  We are not free to create, to break free, to sing and to dance, to invent ways of expressing the spirit of joy, of praise, of thanksgiving.  We are slaves to sin. 

 

Look at the media images of criminals, of the man who held the three girls captive for 10 years.  Can you imagine this man in some creative endeavor, in the freedom of worship of God?    He is as much enslaved to evil as his victims were enslaved to the evil he expressed outwardly.  Jesus promised us two things:  You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free, and He also promised us that we would have the Advocate, the Counselor, who would lead us into all truth.  He promised us FREEDOM!  Freedom from the slavery to sin and to the past, freedom to enter into the true worship of the Father, freedom to be led by the Spirit of God rather than the spirit of evil and untruth.

 

It was only the Israelites' leisure in the desert that unchained them from the past forms of slavery--slavery to idols, slavery to endless labor, slavery to other men.  Now they were free to worship Yahweh and to learn creativity.  They began to build a Tent of Meeting, where they could enter in and worship the God who led them to freedom -- and in the building, they learned creativity.  The entire book of Exodus, after escape from slavery, is about the building of the Tabernacle and about how God "filled [them] with the Spirit of Practical Wisdom" (Ex. 28:3) -- i.e., creativity-- to construct the Tabernacle, the priestly garments, the jewelery, the lampstands, the engravings, the colored vestments and tent coverings, the ropes, braids, the blue-violet, the purple, the scarlet, the carnelian topaz and sparkling-emerald, etc. 

 

In the process of constructing the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the former slaves of Pharoah's tombs were learning the trades of freed men.  They were learning the crafts that could support them and their families forever, once they entered the Promised Land.  God was raising them up from slavery to freedom. 

 

Until we are freed, we will never learn the uses of leisure -- contemplation, creativity, the arts of healing, of music, of art, of culture, of worship.  "Let my people go, that they may go into the desert and [there learn the leisure, the freedom of] worship."  God has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed.  My prayer is that every man, woman, and child may discover what God has in store for those He brings from slavery to the freedom of true worship!



Spirit of Practical Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, (i.e.--does not know what to do), he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).

 

Yesterday I wrote about taking God as the Senior Partner in the business of our lives.  Once we get this mind-set, it is amazing how it changes our thinking.  The Book of Lamentations says, "He has taken up all the causes of my life"  -- if we allow Him, for He will do nothing without our permission and acceptance.

 

But when we "acknowledge Him in all our ways and lean not on our own understanding" (Proverbs 3:21), He does direct our paths, just as Scripture promises us.

 

Years ago, when I was teaching, I found that my feet would swell painfully during the day.  Add to that a bone spur on one toe plus the pressure of a fungus nail on the same toe, and my life was miserable.  I started bringing 4 pairs of shoes to my office and changing shoes all day.  Then I started buying more and more expensive shoes and putting the cheap ones in the Goodwill bag.  Nothing seemed to work.  Finally, I began to think I would have to stop teaching, as it was difficult for me to walk across campus and to stand on my feet in the classroom.  One day, as I headed back across campus to my office, I was in so much pain that I was seriously thinking of sitting on the sidewalk to take off my shoes and walk barefoot the rest of the day.  "O God!" I cried out, "if you will just tell me what to do, I promise I'll do it." 

 

That afternoon, I decided to stop at my mother's house on the way home, a rare occurance for me, since I had to meet my children after school, prepare dinner, and hopefully, put my feet up for a few minutes.  "It sounds as if you have arthritis in your feet," Mom said; 'that's how mine started.  And if you are craving anything, it's poisoning you ---- corn is the worst!"  I shrugged my shoulders, thinking that (a) I was too young to have arthritis, and (b) I wasn't craving anything, least of all corn. 

 

But the next morning, I reached into the pantry and pulled out a packet of instant grits.  For months, I had been craving grits, and eating them even sometimes at night before bed.  I stared at the package:  "That's corn!" I thought.  Intrigued, I got out all my books on natural healing and remedies and began to read about arthritis.  Sure enough, corn was the worst offender in inflammation, but the other nightshade vegetables were also on the list -- potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant -- all of which I grew and devoured.

 

For the next month, all those vegetables were off my diet, and by the end of the month, I could wear all the shoes in the Goodwill bag again.  As long as I did not eat those vegetables, I was entirely pain-free, no matter what pair of shoes I wore.  And once my body was purified of inflammation, I found that I could detect hidden poisons even when I did not realize I was eating them -- fish fried in corn oil, for example.  For the last 20 years, I have been entirely free of arthritis, except when I have decided that "just this little bit won't hurt."  Then, once again, I am in pain, not only in my feet but in my hands.

 

I cannot tell how grateful I am to the Lord for His Spirit of Practical Wisdom, which has saved me from excruciating pain all these years.  Tomorrow I will continue on the same theme.

Senior Partner

Imagine if you worked for Warren Buffet; imagine if you were his on-site manager.  You would come to work on a daily basis expecting problems to arise that day --- that's why you are there -- to handle the things that come up.  You know what Buffet expects; he hired you and trained you to use your skills to protect his interests.  And when you need direction, advice, or resources, he is available to you.  He does not leave his business entirely in your hands because it is still his business, but he does trust you to manage it from day to day.

Our lives are like that:  if God is the Senior Partner in the business of our lives, He expects us to use our skills to manage each day.  But he is still involved; it is His business after all.  He is willing to provide guidance, advice, and resources ---but He also expects us to consult Him regularly.  He is not an absentee landlord; He is present and active in all the endeavors of our lives. 

Many people just cannot accept Jesus' teaching about the birds of the air and lilies of the field (Matthew 6:25-34).  I don't know if they think Jesus was just speaking poetically here or if He was blowing smoke, but they cannot accept His examples literally.  This passage follows the one about not being able to serve both God and Money -- and the word "Money" is capitalized in the Scripture, which should tell us something.

I think our lives are a mind-set.  Are we really "reporting for work" each day?  Or do we get up thinking that our lives are our own "business," that we are in charge of all that happens, that it is up to us to make the business run and show a profit each day?  The question is, Whose business is it?  Who is in charge?  Who provides the resources?  Who figures out the bottom line at the end of the day?  To whom do we report the successes and failures of the day?  Are we employees or bosses?

To be an employee does not diminish us at all; in fact, if we keep in mind the Warren Buffet analogy, it would be a great honor for us to have his trust and to manage his business.  Our prestige would be enormous; could we desire to go higher in the world of business than to manage one of Buffet's establishments?  Would we have to compromise our ethics to work for such a man?  Would we have less integrity as persons if we worked for Buffet?  No, but his own "glory," if you will, would be our own.  We would shine in his light.

The same if true if God were the Senior Partner in the endeavor of our lives.  We would shine in His glory; He would provide the resources -- we would be the managers.  How exciting is that?

Old Covenant -- New Covenant

From the very beginning, God always desired a relationship with mankind.  He breathed into Adam His own breath/spirit (ruah) so that there could be communion of spirits between God and man.  But man desires the God-spirit + something else.  And the "something else" usually begins to quench the communion between God and man.

Our own experience testifies to what happens when a covenant between man and woman begins to diminish:  one of the partners desires his/her spouse + something else or someone else.  Then there is a distance between the original pair; the covenant relationship begins to fade.  At first, we desired every word that came forth from the mouth of the beloved, but later, we begin to hear less, or discredit, the words that issue forth from the other.  We question; we wonder if our partner knows what he/she is talking about; we think we know a better way; we begin to distance ourselves and diminish the original communion of souls we once had.

And the same process goes on with our children:  when a child is born, our first thought, more or less, is Adam's when he first saw Eve -- at last, this one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.  There is total communion between child and mother; when the child is in pain, the mother is in pain.  When the child is content, so too is the mother.  Later, however, the child begins to pull away from communion of spirit with the parents and go his/her own way.  She questions whether the parent really knows what he is talking about; she eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and chooses by the appearance of good instead of by the wisdom of her parents.  There is no longer a communion of spirit, but 'brother against brother,' so to speak, as each vies with the other for control.

When a child cannot be controlled by a look, or by communion of spirit with the parent, another system must be instituted until the child is mature enough to gain wisdom for himself.  The relationship of child to parent for a time must be one of command and obedience, in order to protect the child from harming himself and others.  Many parents want their children to 'love' them or to be their 'friend,' but this attitude toward parenting often leads to disaster because children are not yet ready for that kind of relationship with the parent.  As a child matures, though, the relationship must change; the parent is no longer 'in charge,' but standing back, supportive and encouraging as the child begins to find his/her own way in life.  The love and desire for communion has not changed, but now the parent waits for those feelings to emerge from within the child himself. 

Reflecting on the natural growth process helps us to grasp the Old Covenant-New Covenant relationship of God and mankind.  God has not changed in His desire for communion with mankind, but man had to 'grow up' before he was ready for communion with God.  Yahweh had to teach, to guide, to mentor Israel into an understanding of who He is and what He wants for them before they were ready to accept an "adult relationship" with the Most High.  The New Testament is the story of that relationship. 

Jesus said, "Salvation is from the Jews."  God could not teach mankind as a whole because He had to find a person, a family, a tribe, a nation who would listen and obey Him under the 'old' covenant before they were ready for a new relationship:  I no longer call you servants but friends, Jesus said to His disciples. 

A new kind of relationship is given to us, an adult exchange of love and respect and appreciation, just as we experience with our adult children.  But even now, under the New Covenant, many people are not yet ready for this kind of relationship with the living God.  Rather, they prefer the Old Covenant relationship where they were told what to do and when to do it.   If they follow the rules, they are safe and do not have to engage further with a Person Who loves them beyond all measure. 

Each one of us must go through the "growing up" process in our faith/relationship with God.  At first, we follow what we are told.  Later, though, when we are ready, He will send His own Spirit-breath into us, and we will know the absolute freedom of relationship and love, the divine exchange of Spirit to spirit.  And just like falling in love, we will rejoice in a new relationship that need never grow old or distant.

The Gift

In Chapter 10 of John's Gospel, Jesus tells us that He is the gate; whoever enters by Him will be saved.  I wonder how many people think about what He is the gate to.  When we enter by the Gate, what do we enter?  Where are we going?  What does He mean that we are "saved"?

I love, love, love being "here," at this stage of my life, for being able to look back over so many years (which now seem so few) gives me a perspective that cannot be had from the age of 30, 40, or even 50.  Looking back now, I see myself at 30, for example.  I was a "good person," from the natural standpoint.  I went to church regularly; I (kind of) obeyed the commandments; I didn't deliberately hurt other people -- though what I was doing without knowing it was terrible.  But something was still missing from my life, and I did not know what it was.  I remember searching desperately for that something that I could not identify.  I tried yoga; I tried Hari Krishna; I tried faith-sharing groups; I tried Universal Unitarianism -- all alongside my basic Catholic beliefs, which were great and wonderful.  But I knew there was something more.

I have told the story many times of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on me in a hospital room in 1977.  I don't need to re-tell how that Gift of the Holy Spirit entered my soul and changed me forever, giving me continuing peace, joy, truth, and goodness from above, satisfying the deepest cry of my heart.  In addition to deep and genuine peace, the Holy Spirit gave me access to the Word of God for the first time in my life.  Now I had a hunger and thirst to know the Bible, what it says, what it means.  Scripture says that when Jesus ascended into heaven, He bore with Him 'gifts to man.'  To each one of us, gifts are given for the common good.  Some He gives as apostles to the nations; some He gives as prophets, as teachers, as administrators, as givers, etc.  He distributes gifts to all as He wills, according to His wisdom.  I am sooooo grateful for the gift of Scripture which I have been given --- and I know that I have not used the gift the way I need to, but it has so enriched my own life that I cannot express enough how grateful I am. 

But none of these things is the Gift that I speak about today. Today, I am thinking about Jesus' words, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved."  The Gate.  The Gate to.....?? 
I know the answer is "the Gate to eternal life."  But that answer is too abstract, too much "in the future" for people struggling today with not enough money, for children with health problems, for marriages falling apart, for sons in prison, etc.  My question today is What does the Gate open to us today?  What is the Gift that Jesus gives us today, as well as the promise of 'eternal life'? 

Jesus did not come to 'teach us how to live,' to give us better principles or guidelines than those given in the Old Testament, etc.  He was not a great moral teacher, a better prophet, or whatever "men say about Him."  I mean, He was all these things --- but that is not The Gift He came to give us.  If we stop there, we have missed everything, for then everything depends on us, just as it did in the Old Testament.  Then He need not have died on the cross. 

When Jesus says He is the "Gate," He means that those who enter through Him enter into the same relationship with the Father as He Himself has --- that is the Gift He came to give us:  If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (Jn. 14:23).  The Gift Jesus offers us is the Indwelling Presence of Himself and the Father.  He is the Gate to a new kind of existence -- the presence of the Father who loves us, the presence of the Son Himself dwelling in us and bringing us to the Father, the Gift of the Spirit of Love between the Father and the Son, now bringing us into the same relationship of love that energizes all of creation. 

It is not at all about us being "good people," or obeying the law, or going to church.  Rather, the Gift of entering through the Gate is that we will 'find pasture' for our souls (Jn.. 10:9) in the peace and joy of being in relationship with God Himself.  That was what was missing from my own life before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Jesus coming to me.  Now that the Spirit of Jesus dwells within me, I know the Father as He knows the Father; I learn the Scriptures as he shows them to me; and I have the same relationship with other people that He has with them. 

If we only knew the pasture, the rest, the peace and the joy that lies on the other side of the Gate, we would all run to it and through it!  At the Last Supper, Jesus said, "I am telling you these things that my joy may be in you."  What is "his joy" but the love the Father has for Him and for the world?  That is the joy that He shares with us on the inside whenever we enter the world He experiences through the Gate

Empty Vessels

When I open my kitchen cabinet in the morning, the coffee cups are vying for my selection:  "take me," says one; "I am larger than all the rest."  Another one says, "Yes, but my colors are brighter and more vivid than all the rest."  Some of them point to their attractive shapes, to the artistry with which they have been fashioned, and others remind me of the places I have visited when I acquired them.

"Hey, hey!" I say to all of them.  "I have chosen each one of you for a different reason, and I love each one of you for a different reason.  What is most important to me is that you are waiting to be of service to me today.  I need for you to be clean of dirt and debris, to be empty and waiting to be filled with the liquid of my choice.  I need for you to be ready to be put into the hands of my guests, the ones I choose to hand you over to.  I need for you to be quiet and satisfied in my hands, whether I choose you today or tomorrow, or not for awhile."  And then I choose one of them for today's pleasure.

Mary's usefulness to the Most High was her emptiness, her purity of heart and mind.  She was a chosen vessel to hold the fullness of divinity, to carry the outpouring of God's love, beauty, goodness, mercy to the world.  Nothing of her own could stand in the way or pollute the radiance of God given to mankind.  She wanted to hold something of Him for herself, but in the end, she let go of all that she had been given:  They have no wine, she said to her son, knowing full well that she was handing him over to the world.  After that, He would no longer be hers. 

God had said to Abraham, "Give me your Isaac, your only son whom you love."  As He said to Mary, "Give me your Jesus, your only son whom you love."  And she let go of her most precious boy, the delight of her eyes and heart.  She gave Him to us, the One who was everything to her, that He might become Everything to us also.  From that point on, His family were those who heard the word of God and kept it.  She had poured out all that God had given her, as drink for the world, just as He was later to do on Calvery. 

Empty vessels, waiting to be filled, waiting to be poured out in obedience to the One who filled them.

God Who Acts in Us

A recent longitudinal study of Catholic youth into young adulthood revealed that something like 78% of young people claim that they made a commitment to God before the age of 14.  The reasons for this commitment were not clear in the survey, but I have to believe that such a high percentage is not the result of teaching per se, because Catholic teaching of young children has never emphasized 'giving your heart to Christ' or "making a commitment to God,' as much Baptist teaching does.  In fact, my students are often confused when asked by their peer if they are 'saved.'  They are not sure what that means from their experience in the Catholic church.

What I think can account for this reporting is the fact that the Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of young children, whether they are being formally instructed or not.  My granddaughter, who has never been taught about God and who does not attend church at all, told me last year that when the sun's rays come streaming from behind the clouds, it seems that God is "right there." 

There is something that lies at our deepest center that is like a 'bell' ringing inside of us, alerting us to truth, goodness, and beauty.  We can often tell whether someone is honest or not, though we have no words to explain what it is that is telling us not to trust another person.  What we call 'religion' is man's response to the deepest part of himself, his deep center, that we call God.  When we touch that center, we are home; we have found ourselves, and we want to find ways of expressing our deepest joy.  Some mystics, trying to find words for their experience, call it the 'inchoate memory of God's kiss as He puts our souls into our bodies."

The pre-Vatican II mass in Latin, accompanied as it was by music, incense, ritual, symbols, and quiet was the perfect setting for the soul that wanted to touch the face of God, without words, without understanding---and sometimes even without emotion.  Mysticism is knowing ourselves as rooted in God beyond explicit thought and feeling.  Mysticism is everyday contact with Someone who loved us before we were born, before we were ''good,'' before we were fully developed. 

I am not suggesting that we return to the Latin Mass, but I do believe that as we leave childhood and depend more on reason and intellect and less on "knowing that we know," we need to find ways to just be in the Presence of the God who loves us beyond all thought and reason.

My own words are becoming fewer and fewer in the face of this great mystery of Presence, and I am considering no longer writing a blog, since every 'explanation' of what I experience in God falls far short of the reality.  Maybe childhood and old age have that in common -- no words are necessary to validate the experience of God's Holy Spirit in our hearts.