Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

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Running Harder, Going Nowhere

December 5, 2016

Did you ever feel like you’re just spinning around in circles going nowhere?

Unlike the TV ad, I’m going to take this deeper.

There is a project management phrase we used to repeat–the faster I go, the behinder I get.

Sometimes we work hard, and good. We do good work. We follow the rules. People respect us. We have a good life–plenty of “stuff”.

And yet…We can’t get no Satisfaction.

Jesus was approached one day by a young man. “How can I inherit eternal life?” he asked.

You know the rules, follow them. “I have followed every one, faithfully, ever since I was a youth.” (Did we say he was a young man?)

We know he was rich. We know that he was a rule-follower. He probably thought of himself as sinless.

But “satisfaction?” He had none.

That happens to us, doesn’t it?

We really crave relationship. Above all, relationship with God (that’s the “eternal life” part of the question). But something blocks us. Sometimes we can’t put our finger on just what the problem is.

In this man’s life it was his stuff. Jesus advised getting rid of his stuff for the benefit of the poor. Then following. Following means developing a relationship of student to mentor. You learn from your mentor. You emulate your mentor. And you become like your mentor.

Are we having trouble following our mentor/teacher? Developing that learning relationship? Are we not getting that satisfaction?

Then we need help discovering what stuff we’re dragging along with us. Sometimes it’s just that we think we can do it all ourselves. Hint: we can’t. Each of us needs a guide to follow.

You don’t necessarily have to sell everything. That was the problem with this man. But you can use your wealth for good. For example, the Tijuana Christian Mission City of Refuge ministry is in great need of funds to make the last of the changes required by a recent law. It still needs to raise about $20,000 (US). Go to its Facebook page and donate. Thank you.

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Maintaining Equinimity In The Midst Of Chaos

November 7, 2016

The guys were taking a ride on a boat crossing the lake. At least a third of the thirteen guys or so aboard were experienced boaters. They grew up on the shores of the lake spending their days from youth on the lake fishing.

Half-way across the lake, a sudden storm blew in. Nothing extraordinary. It happens. But this one must have been special. Stronger than they had experienced. Even the fishermen were frightened. All were giving up hope of making it the rest of the distance to shore. 

Well, except for one guy. He was sound asleep.

They woke him up. How can you sleep in a storm? So he looked at them calmly. Asked why they were afraid. Told the storm to be still. Probably went back to sleep.

We read this story in the accounts of Jesus’ life. 

That means we must read the story with spiritual overtones. The Bible is not a history as we know history today. Yes, there are elements of history–as in things that happened in the past–but a careful reading with eyes open tells us that every story has an element of God. We ignore that at our peril.

This is more than a cute story about Jesus’ remarkable powers. 

Storms in ancient (and even modern) literature as part of a story are about chaos. It is when the  universe is not in order. It’s out of control. It reminds us of the universe before Genesis 1:1. Formless, void, chaos.

And when we are confronted with chaos in our life or environment, where do we find stability? Who calms the storm?

It’s not a trick question. 

We can find the anchor, the foundation of stability. Jesus is there. We are living in one of those times were we feel uncertain, don’t know what the future might hold. Will we make it to shore? Yes, of course. We have help.

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Giving In Order To Receive

October 13, 2016

I have been on Twitter almost since it began. More than 3,600 people follow me. Many of those 3.600 follow me so that I will follow them back. Some “game” the system and have maybe 100,000 followers.

They give in order that they may receive.

Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be give; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. –Jesus

There are preachers out there happily proclaiming the “prosperity gospel” using verses such as this in a financial context.

Jesus taught us much about how to handle our finances.

This teaching sounds very like excerpts of longer stories told in other gospels. But let’s just look at context.

He just told the parable of the sower, and explained it to his close followers as a metaphor for the spiritual condition of hearers of the word.

Therefore, we must consider the spiritual meaning of this terse phrase.

This is important. He commands, “Pay attention.” Remember he said, “And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit.”

In like manner, those who give will also receive.

We know many cynics who game the system. Or they are always out for what they can get.

Those who give of their time to help others, seem to always have someone around when they need help. Or those who give generously of their money or resources seem to have enough to live on and more to give away.

Those of us  who just give because of the condition of our heart will be blessed. No matter what the social darwinists–survival of the fittest–believe, it’s not all about me. It’s about the condition of my soil which bears fruit in others a hundred times over.

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Inheriting Eternal Life

September 19, 2016

Just walking along the road. Minding his own business. And a young man walks up to him. “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Something must have been bothering him. What was it? An uneasiness in the gut? A whisper? Some uncertainty?

Something compelled him to approach the famous teacher and ask the pivotal question.

The teacher asked if he knew the commandments from his Scriptures. “Yes, I’ve followed them all my life.”

Well, that should have done it. According to the orthodox teaching of his faith, one earned his way into eternal life through following all the commandments. The young man should have felt assured.

He didn’t.

What about us? There is a current teaching reaching back a couple of hundred years or more that Donald Miller, back when he was writing stories, called “propositional Christianity.” Just say that you agree with their propositions, and you are saved–that is, you inherit eternal life.

But many, like the young man still have an uneasy feeling. Is this really the way? Why do I feel this little nagging in the gut?

The teacher says something to the effect of, well, you know the commandments, there must be one more thing in your way. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor.

At this the young man went away sad. For he was quite wealthy.

The teacher had disciples. His name was Jesus. He was always baffling his disciples–those who were trying hard to learn from him.

They looked at Jesus, puzzled. He said that it was almost impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. This was shocking. Everyone was raised to believe that the rich had it all. They could buy their way into anything. They were especially blessed.

“Who can enter the Kingdom of God if not a rich man?”

“With man, it is impossible. But for God, nothing is impossible.”

(Mark 10:17-23)

When we let go and trust God, then we find the Kingdom.

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Out Of The Abundance of the Heart

June 9, 2016

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” — Jesus

We project to the outside world how we wish to be seen. We often wear masks. The mask was a widely used metaphor in the ancient Mediterranean world drawing from the method of Greek theater. Actors wore masks to switch characters.

Then sometimes the mask slips. What is really in our hearts slips out. Sometimes it’s an action. Sometimes it’s words. How often have neighbors and friends of serial killers said that he seemed like a nice quiet guy!

Local news reports from that court case in California about the young man who sexually assaulted the woman continue to flow with new discoveries. It seems the family mounted quite a campaign designed to mitigate any harsh sentencing (despite conviction on three felony counts).

A school guidance counselor, municipal court judge, business executive–all wrote letters saying he wasn’t a bad person and shouldn’t be sentenced. They probably thought that they could write on a public matter in secret. But words become public. And words betray the condition of your heart.

I have always loved John Ortberg’s description of Jesus as the first cardiologist. He was always interested in the state of your heart.

“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” –Jesus

Why should we develop spiritual practices as habits? Reading from the Bible daily? Meditation?

These “disciplines” actually help us keep our hearts in tune with the light. They change our physiology.

Lest some day we act in an unwise manner and find our photo on page 1 of the newspaper “above the fold.” Then the world sees our fruit and knows the state of our hearts.

Or we say hurtful things or stir up bad feelings in others. And it becomes public. And everyone can see where our hearts are focused.

What does your Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest stream say about you? Have you been uplifting of others? Or negative, nasty, and cynical. If the latter, it’s time to check in with the Cardiologist.

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Jesus Lived, Jesus Died, Jesus Lives Again

March 25, 2016

The very first misunderstanding about Jesus was that he could not possibly have been a human being. Taking Greek rationalist thought (which still screws us up even today) to a logical extreme, some thought that material things and spiritual things could not abide together.

Christians put that heresy away. Jesus lived as a man, a human. He was born a baby, grew up a boy and adolescent, taught as an adult male. There is not even a hint in the New Testament writings that Jesus may have been just an apparition.

My Muslim friends are taught Jesus lived, was a spiritual leader, and will return in glory. My friends from India whether Hindu, Jain, or Sikh all believe that Jesus spent time in India learning from the spiritual masters of the day.

Being a Galilean and looking at the texts, Jesus apparently was comfortable interacting with people from a diverse set of cultures and languages. It appears he spoke Latin and Greek as well as Aramaic and Hebrew. He’d have grown up with people who did. It wouldn’t be unusual.

A side note–modern Americans, especially those of us in the Midwest–are very uncomfortable dealing with a multitude of cultures. Unlike the mixtures and melting pot of the ancient Mediterranean world, we expect everyone to be “American.” We’re shocked, hurt, maybe even fearful, of those who are not. That fear leads to a number of political and social problems.

The thing that energized those early disciples to believe to the extent that they were willing to die for the cause was the resurrection. Christmas may be a big holiday, but Easter is the reason. Without the resurrection, we are nothing but fools–to paraphrase Paul.

The shock, surprise, consternation that followed discovery of the empty tomb is a huge story right there. And then Jesus appeared among them for forty days. The witnesses were many. The power of their testimony beyond all measure. They overturned the world. In 300 years, the mighty power that none of the New Testament writers thought would ever be destroyed became a Christian government. Without a war being fought.

We can have that power today.

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Eating Your Own Harvest

March 23, 2016

Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus.

Jesus is in his last week. He knows what’s happening. His friends? Well, they have no clue. John, writing maybe 50 years later, acknowledges that they didn’t comprehend until later the significance of the words and the events.

Here Jesus is predicting his death. He is also stating a truth. If we stay within ourselves, self-contained as individuals, then we remain just a single grain. If we die to our ego-bound individuality, then we can live a new life with Jesus and bear much fruit.

How many times have you looked at someone and thought, “Wow, so much potential. All lost down the drain. They are just so wrapped up in themselves that they don’t realize what they could be.”

It happens to organizations, too.

I saw an old friend today. We were talking about churches. About how some churches just cannot see beyond their own doors. They spend their money on themselves–their buildings, salaries, offices. Mission giving? Well, that’s on the back burner. Maybe if we get a surplus of money we’ll spend some of it.

She called it, “Eating your own harvest.”

I thought, how appropriate given the verse that I’ve been meditating on. What little harvest we do receive, we consume ourselves instead of planting to reap a larger  harvest.

As for Jesus, his single grain died and he put forth a mighty harvest. No other single person in the history of the world has had such an impact.

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Jesus’ Last Week and the Spiritual Discipline of Befuddlement

March 21, 2016

We’re in a situation. We aren’t in charge of things, yet there is a lot going on. Meetings. Whispered conversations. An increasing aura of tension in the atmosphere. We are looking for an anchor. Something stable and permanent within the pending changes.

It’s like the week we now call Holy Week.

Jesus and his friends travel to Jerusalem for the Jewish festival even though everyone warns Jesus not to go. They know there is danger from the establishment.

But Jesus seems more intense than usual. He drops hints about the coming days, but they make no sense. He implies that it should all be clear to them. That he’s already explained everything.

It is not clear. Nothing is clear. Why are we there? What’s going to happen? What is this queasy feeling in the gut that just doesn’t seem to go away?

But the week begins in the suburbs at the house of good friends. That is comforting.

Of course, there is no spiritual discipline called “befuddlement.”

But this word describes how we feel at times. Don’t we sometimes feel that way trying to understand Jesus? He was a man, yet God. Huh? Doesn’t make logical sense.

He taught with stories that left people confused–at least at first. He made people (who cared enough) think about his teaching. Sometimes for months.

I wonder why John devotes about half of his Gospel to the last week. He wrote his account last.  He knew there were plenty of stories of Jesus’ life and teaching. He wrote about what affected him the most deeply.

I think he was there. His family was “connected.” He knew the high priest and most of the leaders. He could have gotten in to the areas. The story reads like a first-hand account. Even though he’s called the most “spiritual” of the disciples and pictured as softer, I see him as a physically strong. He was a commercial fisherman. Not a pale, soft student found in libraries reading all the time.

This week greatly impacted his life. It probably took him years to digest the story in full. Then he shared it with his community and eventually the world.

He took us from befuddlement to the Light of the World.

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Conquering Fear

March 8, 2016

Paranoia strikes deep

Into your life it will creep

It starts when you’re always afraid

You step out of line, the man come and take you away–

Buffalo Springfield

Why is it that every time there is an encounter with God or a messenger of God, the first words are, “Don’t be afraid”?

I wrote yesterday about conquering emotions. We really need to recognize them and come to grips with them. Psychologists will tell us not to bury them acting as if they don’t exist. If you do, then you will be visited with even worse conditions.

Many writers and analysts believe that the emotion of our time is anger. Therefore the attraction of Trump and Sanders. Each is playing to very real emotions of “common people” who believe that the political establishments have let them down. It’s hard to believe the numbers about the economy growing when we aren’t making as much money and the world is exploding  worse than the 60s.

This is not to discuss politics. I studied that in graduate school–and left it behind to go into engineering, computers, and manufacturing. Something more understandable!

But the mood of the times is important. It’s important to know how many of the people around us feel. It’s important to know how we feel inside. It’s important to recognize and then deal constructively.

Fear leads to anger? “It starts when you’re always afraid.” The writers of the song nailed it.

How do we cope?

There are many ways, of course, but let’s turn to Jesus, who as a teacher leading us into living a better life now as well as in the future, always caught just the right edge.

Try Luke chapter 12.

“I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.”

“Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food….”

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for you Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

Meditate on those. For where we fix our minds, so shall our thoughts and emotions follow. We have the power to choose.

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For Christmas, Jesus, I’d Like Your Presence

December 21, 2015

“Jesus, I want your presence for Christmas.”

That sentence appeared somewhere last week. I love plays on words. They often drive ideas home. Several books of the Bible are full of these word plays–especially Psalms and Proverbs. Sometimes I think Paul sneaked one or two in his writings.

Presence–Presents.

There are people who, as children, received few presents. Then they went to school and saw what some of the other kids got. Cue jealousy, greed leading to a life of self-absorption, narcissism, and/or greed. Even into late adulthood, they still crave presents.

Even as Christians, as self-professed followers of the guy whose birth we celebrate. They can’t help it. This most likely was not a decision. So many things we get blamed for by the Pharisees who still live amongst us are not really decisions. Just reactions reinforced by family or peer group becoming habits of self-thought.

Others of us learned from those “poor” beginnings that all the gifts really had little meaning. Open the present, check out the (most likely cheap) toy, play for a while, then it’s over.

What remains is experience. All the family gathered. Special church worship. People especially cheerful, wishing peace for everyone.

Me, I seek the presence. As a contemplative, I’ve had experiences. They are deep and meaningful. On the other hand, some of the best experiences of presence have come in service. Sometime just a helping hand. Or picking up a dinner check for some stranger spontaneously. Or working with orphans in international ministries. It can be in the same house or half-way around the world.

We celebrated the 4th Sunday of Advent in a church that celebrates diversity. In just about every way. What a welcoming group of people. The presence was felt.

I only wish that we could spread that presence of the one whose birth we celebrate.

Could I be more witness and less preacher? Seek and share the presence of Jesus.

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