Faith Venture

We become like the sum of the people around us.

Who is the group with you that meets for coffee in the morning?

Who is in the group that meets after church or in the tavern or at a sporting event?

The fear of almost every parent when their children reach socializing age concerns the peer group the kids associate with. Parents know that this group will have more influence over them than the parents will for the next few years.

Perhaps there are people we should ease away from. Cultivate those who are supportive.

Pause and look around. Do we wish to be like those who surround us? If not, then perhaps we need to seek out new groups.

We learn to choose wisely.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch…

Acts 8:26-27

This story presented itself to me this morning in contemplation. My contemplation centered on the difficulty we have accepting, or at least dealing civilly with, people of races and/or sexuality from ourselves or our culture.

In America, that group may be black people or homosexual people. In much of Africa, people of another tribe and homosexual people. We have been watching English TV, a crime series set in the 1960s. A particular neighborhood had signs on apartment buildings, “No blacks or Irish.” And so it goes, region by region, around the world.

Yet, Philip, a Jew but also now a leading Christ-follower, is guided by God to an opportunity. This opportunity to meet a seeker who is of another race and sexuality. (It’s tricky to translate first century culture to twenty-first, but there is some similarity.)

Philip spends time with the man explaining how the Hebrew Scriptures pointed to Jesus and then the good news of Jesus. The Ethiopian accepted that story through faith and was baptized.

Our challenge is this—how open are we to talking with someone we meet who is different from us? Could we be Philip in the twenty-first century?

The Prisoner was a 13-week series that ran on PBS in the late 60s. The hero of the story was trapped in a village with no way out. Life in the village was not necessarily cruel, but he knew that he was trapped.

He knew “Number 2” who seemed almost in charge. He kept trying to get to “Number 1”, the person ultimately responsible for trapping him in this village. During the last episode, he finally met “Number 1.” It was the hero himself. He imposed servitude upon himself.

The series asked a question that has impacted me in all that time since—where have I caused my own servitude?

Am I locked in fear? Happens to all of us, I presume.

What was the response when God met people in the Hebrew Scriptures? What seemed to be one of Jesus’ most-used phrases? Fear not. Get out of it through faith.

What else holds us in captivity due to our own decisions? Substances? Lifestyle? Pursuit of wealth? Pursuit of pleasure?

The worst kind of servitude is that which is self-imposed. It need not happen. Wake up to where you limit yourself or hurt yourself. Self-awareness is the start. Then get beyond it.

I’m currently cruising at 38,000 feet above Illinois en route to Houston for my first business trip (other than driving to a couple of local trade shows) since February 2020.

Put on a mask for the livery ride to the airport. Continuing through the airport to sitting on the plane.

As I sat quietly to observe my breath while sitting, I noticed that the mask boosted my awareness of breath. I can feel the exhale as a movement of warm, moist air. I feel the inhale drawing cool air through the filter of the mask material.

Awareness of breath is calming. Not that I am anxious. But after the wait for the driver, then the rather hurried flow through security followed by the long walk to the gate, then queuing for boarding, it’s time to sit quietly. Breathe. Feeling breath. Aware of life force. Aware of the spirit.

When I arrive in Houston, the awareness will remain. I’ll be open to all the new people and ideas at the conference. Relaxed and ready for work.

The pulse of life—go…pause…go.

‘Tis a strange thing, Sam, that among us people can’t agree the whole week because they go different ways upon Sundays.

George Farquhar

The county where I grew up and lived most of my life contained approximately 1 church for every 400 people. Yet, on a given weekend (Sunday), only about 20% of the people darkened the door of one of those churches.

I think there are about four Roman Catholic churches. Maybe 120 of a variety of protestant churches with more differences in theology than I could even begin to count.

And this is part of the “Bible Belt.”

There are so many churches. Yet, seemingly so few Jesus followers. It makes me pause and ponder human psychology.

But the Apostle Paul trying to herd the cats of his start-up churches back in the first century surely felt some of those same feelings. How could he keep them focused on the things that matter? How could he get them to calm their bickering? How could he convince them to be accepting of each other in all of their varieties of races, genders, ethnicities?

That is the subject of most of his writing. Let’s focus on Jesus and spiritual development. Let us not drag old baggage into the new fellowship.

That is what keeps Paul relevant every generation who must learn that first century message again.

I wrote yesterday about beginning the day asking what good will I do and closing the day reflecting upon what I had done. This, I suppose has some similarity with the Examen in the Ignatian tradition. But I experienced an entire day. I wonder where I did good.

I read yesterday somewhere that November is “Gratitude Month.” Maybe that is because we celebrate a holiday called Thanksgiving in November in the US. Or, maybe it is a “Hallmark Holiday” devised so that the greeting card companies can sell more cards.

Sort of like reflecting on the day and wondering where I did something good. Where did I add to someone’s pleasure or well being? Where did I support someone? Where did I fail?

Do you also have trouble sitting and listing things/people/situations for which we are grateful? Sometimes I think it’s a pretty mundane list. Trite, even. I might say health, then reflect on all the areas where my health is less than perfect (although my new massage therapist says I’m in good shape–implied, for an old guy). I go through the same plus/minus thinking for about all the gratitude items.

Maybe I need an attitude adjustment? I need to wake up to gratitude.