Faith Venture

There are other religious traditions in the world that have a story about God visiting Earth. I have never read about one other than Christianity that claims the resurrection. What makes Jesus different from other teachers and prophets is that he died and came back to teach again.

After suffering traumatic experiences then experiencing joy, I’ve got to believe that the disciples took a few days to let the events sink in. I also have to believe that they listened more acutely to what Jesus had to say. His teaching was no longer theoretical. It was experienced.

I’ve read theology most of my life. For years I would subscribe to “Theology Today” to check into the conversations and then stop for a while. But it was all inbred theoretical reasoning sort of stuff. It’s mind games that humans have played ever since they had developed agriculture and had leisure time.

As I had more spiritual experiences, theology took a much reduced role in my life. Same thing had to have happened with the first disciples (I’m not talking about the 12, but the entire circle of which we’ve never been given a list or a number). Once they experienced the entire Jesus event and once they had digested and understood it, only then could they teach and preach with such power.

There are many theologies (theories) revolving around Jesus’ death and resurrection, but those don’t interest me so much. Theologies cause divisions. But experience unites.

If all this is still theoretical with you but if you are serious about entering a spiritual life, then you can. A couple of thousand years of practitioners have written about their experiences. These can be called “Spiritual Disciplines.” Now some people just seem called to spiritual life from the beginning. Others desire it. Either way, putting a discipline into your life of study (the Bible and other spiritual writers), prayer, service, community, worship and more will take you on your spiritual journey.

You don’t have to have a Ph.D or D.D. or whatever. In fact, that may get in your way. Just start by getting up 15 minutes earlier in the morning. Read a little. Pray a little. Then during the day look for service opportunities (a kind word, smile, a couple of dollars to someone who needs lunch, take someone to the doctor, whatever presents itself). These will start you on the way. Jesus will become real to you and through you.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “sin”. Is it an “old-fashioned” word that lacks power to communicate these days? It’s a judgmental word–but has it moved from meaning God’s judgment to other people’s judgment? Is it too much pointing fingers at each other?

The minor prophets whom I have been studying were great at pointing out all the sins of their people and telling them what would happen if they continued. But the people didn’t listen.

There is an ancient spiritual discipline of balance. You know, there have been commercials touting products to help you if your digestive system is out of balance. What if your whole life is out of balance?

Life well lived has God as the fulcrum–the center point around which your life is balanced. You are supposed to have a work life, a family life, a God life, a play life. You also have an emotional life, a rational life, a spiritual life. These all need to be out of balance.

We pull out that old word “sin” to describe when we’ve become captured by the worst of one of those lives. When it’s too much me, not enough God and others.

Instead of feeling judged for your sins and then getting defensive and not doing anything about them, try this. Look at your life as getting back into the balance that God created. This is a good time of the Church year to reflect on the parts of you that are out of balance.

Jesus wanted you to have a whole life, with God at the center, free from worry about “going to Hell,” free to serve others and God. He died to make it happen.

Except that you have to participate, too.

How do you put God back at the balance point? It’s both simple and hard. You stop every morning, first thing, and focus your attention on God. Maybe you talk to God. Maybe you read from the Bible or other spiritual books (I’m currently reading the words of the 12th Century mystic Richard of St. Victor, maybe you read Henri Nouwen or Dallas Willard). This starts your day with the right attitude.

Then take brief pauses during your day where you take a few deep breaths and remember your morning starting place. Go back to the center. Try it every day from now until Easter and it will become a lifelong habit. Might just keep you from “sinning.”