Incarnation and Resurrection

A fundamental meaning of the incarnation and resurrection is that the material world is good, but not as good as it will be. Jesus' 'enfleshment' is God's ultimate 'yes' over what He has made. We can and should remain skeptical about materialism as a worldview, but we must never stop believing that what God has made is good and worthy of love. As Christians, we should be the most hopeful people around. Someone told me last night that when Desmond Tutu was asked if he was an optimist, he replied 'no, not an optimist, but I am very hopeful.'

This is where the resurrection comes in. Matter as it is opposes God's final purposes for the world, hence Jesus is crucified. But the story does not end there; it is only just beginning. Jesus' new life shows us that what will be is even better than what we have now. We have to hold these two truths in tension if we are to be true to the Jesus story.

The outworkings of this tension are of great value. Firstly, this is where a true and pure concern for the environment begins. If matter is good and of God then we had better keep it in good order. The resurrection shows us that God builds on what we have here with his new vision of creation. We are to be in love with life and the gift of God in this very moment. The failing of much of the environmental movement at the moment is that at its root it does not affirm life at its core. Consequently people end up blowing up other people in the name of animal rights!

Secondly, this tension helps us to love humanity as it is, whilst also recognising that it is not fully as it should be. As believers in the Christ story, we will be able to tread the fine line between pessimism and denial. We need to hear God's 'yes' over each of us before we can hold these two truths together. If we are OK, then it is just possible that everything and everyone around us is too.

"The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." (Psalm 24.1)

Revival, whatever that means.

I have heard the concept of revival mentioned so many times around churches in the last decade or so, but without anyone being able to tell me what it actually is. From what I have gathered though, I surmise that it is a re-awakening which comes from a fervour for God and results in many people coming to know God.

My thoughts are thus. When one breaks apart the word revival one is left with 're' & 'vival'. The second half of this word clearly comes from the root word 'to live' (vivre = french, vivir = spanish). So, revival is the process of being re-lived or re-born. If we are to see this re-birth in the wider world - which Jesus tells Nicodemus is essential for all of us (John 3) - it has to begin in the church, that is within the people of God. If we want to see revival, we first have to be revival.

How do we do this? True religion is a matter of awareness, of seeing God in the midst of everything and everyone. This is why Jesus exhorts us to be like children and why he tells us to remove the log from our own eyes before attempting to see other's sins (Luke 6). When we do this we are getting closer to fulfilling Jesus' command for us to love our enemies.Transformation comes in our lives when we see God in a new way and in new people. So, if we wish to see the world change we must first pray to be that change. In other words, we must embody the change we wish to see in the world. Ask God to give you his heart and his eyes and you will be on your way.

Isn't this the very meaning of the incarnation? Isn't this what Jesus' life and death show us? Yes, he shows us that God himself embodies the change he wishes to see in the world. Instead of critiquing and judging he rolls up his sleeves and chooses to get involved. This is likewise to be our attitude to the world. Then, my friends, we won't be able to stop the revival!

Being in LOVE

I am convinced that God intends that we are 'in love'. This is our highest calling. Not just to be in love though, but to be in love with everything and everyone, even our enemies. Where we draw distinctions and boundaries between groups of people we become unable to love them and we fail to fulfill God's will for our lives. This is judgement and Jesus says we are to have no part in judging other people. No part whatsoever.

The Christian should be the most loving person. Isn't this what Jesus is getting at in John's gospel?

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13.34-35)

How can we attain this? There is only one way to attain this, which is not to attain it at all but to realise that we are the BELOVED of God. That means that God is in love with you! When we know this we become free to love everything in the same way that God does. Do you know that your very existence in this moment is all down to the fact that God is willing you to exist right here and now? That means he is for you and he is on your side and that He LOVES you!

"The great commandment is not 'thou shalt be right.' The great commandment is to 'be in love'...As others have rightly said, all that is needed is surrender and gratitude." (R. Rohr - Everything Belongs)

Forgiveness

Here is a great quote on forgiveness. My thoughts are below, for what they are worth. Note the name of the author too...Classic.

"Forgiveness is giving up the right to retaliate. Forgiveness is the willingness to have something happen the way it happened. It's not true that you can't forgive something; it's a matter of the will, and you always have the choice. Forgiveness is never dependent on what the other person does or does not do; it is always under our control. Forgiveness is giving up the insistence on being understood.... Jesus forgave those who crucified him. This is a radically new way of thinking. For those who accept and practice this discipline, there is a release of energy and a sense of freedom."

Pixie Koestline Hammond - For Everything There Is a Season

What do you find most difficult to forgive? For me it is being misunderstood. I simply must be heard and understood by people. Anything less than this makes me really angry. I was thinking about this whilst away with Amy on holiday and I realised that I am this way because I have put way too much value on my opinions and my voice. Education has taught me that I am intelligent and of value if I can pick something apart and critique it. But I want to be just the opposite and I am in fact called to be just the opposite. I want to be someone who is known for building up and not tearing down.

I am trying to bring these things before God so that he may take them and fill the vacuum with Himself. God help me not to need to be right anymore! Help me be free from my need to be heard and affirmed. Forgive me for when I have forced my opinions on you, and for doing in here and now.

Back with a vengeance

For all (both?) of you that read this, I am back with a vengeance after a week on holiday. More will follow.

"Those who have created the evil are those who have made possible the hideous social injustice our people live in. Thus, the poor have shown the church the true way to go. A church that does not join the poor in order to speak out from the side of the poor against the injustices committed against them is not the true church of Jesus Christ."

Oscar A. Romero - The Violence of Love

God help me to look out for the poor.

A Poem by Richard Rohr

Let us be present to the now.
It's all we have
and it's where God will always speak to us.
The now holds everything, rejects nothing and,
therefore, can receive God, too.
Help us be present to the place
we're most afraid of,
because it always feels empty,
it always feels boring,
it always feels like it's not enough.
Help us find some space within
that we don't try to fill with ideas or opinions.
Help us find space so you, loving God,
can show yourself in that place
where we are hungry and empty.
Keep us out of the way,
so there is always room enough for you.
Amen.

Not escapism but engagement.

The gospel is not escapism but engagement. Engagement with the needs of the world we live in. Not hiding away in ivory towers or even church buildings, but living in the midst of the world and thanking God for giving this opportunity to us. We are to share the good news, yes, but we must be good news too, which means being in the midst of the mess.

We need to love life to be good news. In Bonhoeffer's words, we need to 'drink the dregs of this world'. That is to say that we must 'taste and see that the Lord is good'. It's time that the lot of us bucked up our ideas and started talking up and believing in the world as it is. Only when we see God's blessing in what is will we be any use in bringing in what it should be. When we recognise that we the church are here to serve the world not to judge it, we will be truly relevant again and maybe we will see the Kingdom coming in greater power.

On Science and Religion

An interesting article in The Times today and well worth reading...http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article673663.ece

A study in grace

Whilst on the bus reading the well known story of Mary and Martha(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010.38-42;&version=47), I realised that what Jesus is giving us here is a case study in grace.

Picture the scene. Someone VERY important is coming to town for their dinner and you have the responsibility of hosting. "Quick, get the hoover out, clean the lounge, pick up the clothes from the bedroom floor, make sure you get in Tesco's 'finest'. We simply must make a good impression. He's arriving now, get the red carpet out. Did you scrub it love? Now sit down over there sir, make yourself at home."

This is Martha's response and it is one of activity. Even when Jesus has arrived she is too busy preparing to enjoy the real gift on offer; his presence. It says in the text that "Martha was distracted with much serving." How often are we like that? How often do we get so wrapped up in what we can do for God that we forget what really matters to him, just that we would let him teach us.

Jesus sees right through her doing to her being. She is not serving him from a place of love but from one of anxiety. He says "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary." Martha can't sit still because she is anxious and divided. She has too many things going on but all Jesus requires is one thing. Her response only enforces her anxiety. Rather than ask Jesus to heal this wound in her soul she fills it with doing and activity. This leads her into resentment toward her sister and bitterness toward Jesus. Do you know someone like this? I do; me!

But grace is not earned, it is recieved by faith.

There is a better way and Mary has chosen it, which is to simply sit at Jesus' feet. Sitting at Jesus' feet is a sign that we have taken our place as his disciple, allowing him the place as teacher and Lord. The one thing necessary is Jesus and him alone. Only he will do. Mary has chosen to listen to him, to be with him and to follow him. To let her wounds be healed by his words. To allow him to speak to her soul by giving him the space he deserves. Jesus sums it up when he says "Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

Yes indeed, Mary is the one who has chosen what is right, good and proper. Martha thinks Mary is lazy, but Jesus is saying she is wise. The challenge for us is clear. Where we feel anxiety, bitterness and resentment and are placing these things on to God, we need to STOP and LISTEN. We need to learn to sit at his feet once more, to let his words percolate down to the deepest parts of our being. To allow him to tell us who we really are in the essence of our being, rather than being distracted from it by our doing. We must eschew the many things to choose only one thing, Jesus himself. When we are in this position every single act of our being is worship to God.

The world in our image

Health and safety executives are the Pharisees of our day, make no mistake about it. It would seem that they are completely and utterly devoted to squeezing any and every joy and freedom out of everybody’s existence, for the expressed purpose of making the world ‘safer’. Ironically, we are no safer than we have ever been. We have promoted a world in which we abdicate our responsibility, instead relying on legislation to keep us safe. We have become idiots. It seems to that we have created a world where we are no longer able or even permitted to make significant decisions for ourselves, rather we have to abide by the rule book.

But this is not the fault of the H&S man/woman. This is in fact symptomatic of society’s wider plight and our divorce from God. Without him in the frame we have made a world in our image rather than his, projecting a number of our insecurities onto it. Let me explain.

You see, God is concerned with creating people in his own image; people who are able to take responsibility through love for themselves and for the world, even for their enemies (Luke 6.35). This is in fact our divine mandate as we see in Genesis 1.28.

‘God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."’

This ‘ruling over’ is not to be interpreted as an aggressive subjugation of the world in acting as moral conscience, as perhaps our friends in America have seen it. It is not a moral crusade first and foremost. It is the wholesale application of the way of service and love to every living thing in all places. We are to love beings into being. It is from this place that the authority to speak of morality comes and not vice versa. This ruling is not characterised by aggressively ‘lording it over others’, in fact it is quite the opposite. As Jesus says to his disciples, the way of ruling is now the way of service (Mark 10.42-45).

‘Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."’

Moreover, salvation is the process of taking responsibility for ourselves, for who we have become and what we have done with our lives, before handing it all over to God. Before God can redeem our lives we have to admit our sin, which begins by taking responsibility for who we have become, without judging ourselves for who we have become. Until we do this there is no real salvation. In return for this we are given the fullness of life as a promised gift and as a gift in the here and now.

What I sense is that in throwing God out the house has left a gaping hole which cannot be filled. Where we once followed God’s rule - whether explicitly referring to him or not - we now come to some other source for ‘moral’ guidance. Much of this vacuum has been filled with the notion of human rights. Unfortunately this is in itself is not a godly pursuit, unless it is coupled with the equally important notion of human responsibilities. If we won’t become responsible for ourselves and the world, how can we expect anyone else, even our government, to do so for us? The Judaeo-Christian story is one of God acting in our world in creation and redemption. His way of redeeming the world is to become a part of it, to get his hands dirty, to take responsibility for all things. We must do the same if we are to follow his example. We must become responsible people before God. This is what it is to be truly human.

Finally, I wonder how much of this preoccupation with health and safety actually has to do with a fear of death. Are so afraid of dying that we are forced to try to make the world as safe as possible? When we know God we can live in the tension of knowing that the world is not entirely safe but that He is entirely good.

The Sabbath, as it should be

"Sabbath ceasing [means] to cease not only from work itself, but also from the need to accomplish and be productive, from the worry and tension that accompany our modern criterion of efficiency, from our efforts to be in control of our lives as if we were God, from our possessiveness and our enculturation, and finally, from the humdrum and meaninglessness that result when life is pursued without the Lord at the center of it all."

Marva J. Dawn - Keeping the Sabbath Wholly

Pain

"If we don't transform our pain we will most assuredly transmit it." R. Rohr

The spiritual life - Input versus Output

My wonderful wife said something last night which caught my ear. She mentioned that we focus so often in the Church and in our spiritual lives on what we put out, which is to say the 'fruit' of what we do. I'm thinking of what we contribute to the world and the church. The problem with this mindset is that it can lead us to make our spiritual lives - which Jesus tells us are about receiving God's gift for us - into another race for success, albeit with an outwardly 'valuable' goal.

That got me thinking. Would we be better to focus on input rather than output? What is input? To my mind this would be things like the spiritual disciplines; study, prayer, meditation, solitude, service, silence, giving etc. If we secure our input then surely our output will take care of itself? This is perhaps a better place to be but it is still short of where we should be.

An inappropriate fascination with both input and output can lead us into the same trap, that of seeking to earn our place with God. We end up making a spiritual quest into yet another rat race. We start with faith and end with works. Only when we focus on God's will alone will we properly unite both input and output.

Bonhoeffer says this when he suggests that both the question 'how can I be good?' and 'how can I do good?' are the wrong ones for us to ask. Principally this is because behind these questions lies a decision to locate reality in us and not God. These questions actually have 'me' at the centre. The correct question is 'what is the will of God?' as this locates all reality in God rather than us. The benefits of doing this are not merely theoretical, they are completely practical. Only when we ask this question, seek the answer and obey the one who answers will we unite input and output. Moreover, when we seek the answer to this question we unite ourselves with the source of all being, life Himself, and are then able to truly become alive.