Faith Venture

For most of my life, I have been a Methodist or United Methodist. Dad once told me that I was fourth generation Methodist.

When I was a youth, we were “strongly suggested” to sign a pledge card saying we would never drink an alcoholic beverage. The Methodist Church was historically a temperance church.

Now…we have pastors drinking Jack Daniels…

When I was young, a man who divorced his wife could not remarry in the church nor be in leadership.

Now…men who have divorced wives in order to have the latest model not only are remarried in the church, they are serving in leadership roles…

I’m not saying this is bad. In fact, as a general rule, there is good in this.

This week, a special gathering of the United Methodist Church’s governing group, the General Conference, came together to decide how to work out a way for two diverse groups with tightly held opinions on the role and status of homosexual people to live together.

Looking at history…

Although many use words such as love, forgiveness, and God, they often are like the fish in the ocean. “Pardon me, I am searching for the ocean. Can you help me find it?”

Then one day they awaken. They become aware of God and of love and of forgiveness. Opinions are jettisoned. And they cease to speak. They’ve awakened.

Marie Kondo is all the rage right now. She even has a TV series. Simplify, organize, bring joy.

Similar to the book Make Time that I just reviewed. Instead of scurrying around trying to check off the most items from your todo list, make sure you focus on one important thing every day. Perhaps if you finish that, you might have time for a second.

Another book traveling a similar path is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Gregory McKeown.

Thinking about these ideas leads to an inescapable conclusion. None of these consist of simple checklists. These are all lifestyles.

Similarly we can think about diets. A “diet” to lose weight works only in the short term. We all know that. I was astonished to learn that people are on keto diets now. When I was introduced to the concept, practitioners were cautioned to do this intermittently. Raising ketone levels (yes, they do burn fat) has many deleterious effects on the body. Diet, rightly considered, consists of a balanced nutritious blend of essential elements for sustaining a fit life–a balance of carbohydrates and fat for energy and protein to build cells. Oh, it’s actually a lifestyle of nutritious eating.

Then I thought more deeply. Take this following Jesus thing. This also does not consist of a checklist of things to do. Nor is it the simple repeating of a mantra–“I believe, I believe.”

Rightly considered, following Jesus is a lifestyle. Like the old folk song “I have decided to follow Jesus…”, we make the decision and then we live the lifestyle.

And like all of these examples, often we get it wrong. But the times we get it right are satisfying and joyful. And the more we practice, the better we get.

A team developing a Web application named itself Curious George. You know, the mischievous monkey who was adopted by The Man in the Yellow Hat.

I thought, “How cool is that?” A constant reminder to work that particular muscle.

Ever notice little kids? Maybe from 1-1/2 to 4 or so? Take a walk with them. They are curious about everything. They’ll stop and study a leaf. Or a bug. Or a worm.

What about us? When we take a walk, do we puzzle over things we see?

What are you curious about? What would you like to learn?

What a great name for a team exploring new business ideas. Or expanded ministry ideas.

“I’m on the Curious George team. We’re always exploring for new ideas.”

That’s cool.

It is said that these are the three most difficult for a human being:

• Return love for hate,
• Include the excluded,
• Admit you are wrong.

I read the news or some Facebook posts or listen to conversations sometimes and conclude the truth to those propositions.

I practice the self-awareness I’ve been discussing, and I agree.

Those are tough spiritual practices to follow.

Especially for a follower of Jesus, these are core practices. Practice until perfect.

Why do so many Christians not seem to believe they are living now in the Kingdom of God? Or another way, living in God’s Dominion–now?

Jesus said that the Kingdom is here. He pointed out what should have been obvious, but wasn’t.

It’s not that someday and somewhere else we will live under God’s dominion. It is available to us right now.

Play a mind game, a thought experiment.

What if all those who call themselves Christian lived as if they were in the Kingdom of God? They lived practicing the words of Jesus, their teacher?

Even if it is 1 in 10 in North America and Europe and maybe 1 in 1,000 elsewhere. The salt and light of God would infuse everywhere. Instead of polluting everywhere.

Instead of concentrating on whom and what we do not like, we concentrate on ourselves and how we are living. We will change, and those around us will change.

Not with a hammer, but with light.

Thoughts begun with a reading of Anthony de Mello, Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality.

Snowstorms raced across the country. We were in Chicago trying to return to Dayton my non-English-speaking Japanese colleague and me. Airline tickets were paper. There were no apps, no instant updates, no easy phone calls for frequent fliers.

There was only the queue.

Weather is the ultimate leveler. It doesn’t matter who you are or whether you are traveling on foot, bicycle, auto, or airplane. You will be disrupted. Sounds like an idea for a TV channel (wish I’d have had that idea back then!).

As I listened to person after person complaining about how the weather inconvenienced them, how it was “all about me”, I suddenly saw myself. There I was in the queue with my colleague, next up for the agent. And I saw the entire scene. And I understood.

We go to the counter. I smile. “Tough day, isn’t it? How can we get to Dayton?” I could see myself dealing with tact and humility and kindness.

And we calmly transacted business in the midst of chaos.

Self-observation and awareness. They bring a spiritual order to otherwise stressful days.