Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

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Merely Religion

May 12, 2014

Just going through the motions.

That’s what many people think of when they internally define the word “religion.” They think that “religious people” merely “recite” prayers.

My wife was raised in a fundamentalist, independent Baptist church. She was taught many misconceptions about other people and their religions. The teachings about Catholicism were so off the mark, for example, that her mother was amazed to discover that the Catholic Bible was pretty much the same as hers. She was probably 60 at that time.

I’m part of a generation that tended to reject “organized” religion. When I was younger, I thought that true worship had to be in “house churches.” There was a movement in the 70s. I only reluctantly joined (actually rejoined) a denominational church back then. Now, of course, I’m sucked into the structure.

Our pastor hit on something yesterday. “Respect for God without intimacy with God is religion.”

You can respect God, yet not live with Him. You can respect God, yet fail to try to live a pleasing life. You can respect God by coming to a worship service, yet feel nothing. You can even sing the hymns, yet be unmoved.

Jesus pretty much didn’t discuss formal religion often, and when he did it was to point out the hypocrisy of the leading practitioners. He taught right relationship and right living.

The reason to develop Spiritual discipline–reading, study, meditation, prayer, simplicity, worship, praise, fasting, and the rest–is that these practices have been proven over many centuries to aid people in developing that right relationship with God through Jesus in the Spirit. As your focus is sharpened every morning through practice, the life you live that day will be more pleasing to God.

Worship does not have to be going through the motions, yet for many it unfortunately is.

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Why Do We Feel The Need To Know the Future

April 24, 2014

Why is it that humans keep reaching for a sense of certainty in a life that has always been quite uncertain? We want to know the future. But even today’s most sophisticated computer models can’t tell us with certainty what the weather will be next week.

Even so, there are people who study the Bible looking for hints of the future. It gets so bad that there was a guy I heard about in the 70s who had figured out the size of the “New Jerusalem” and the cubic feet of gold as described in John’s Revelation and the weight of that amount of gold and multiplied by the price of gold to figure out the US Dollar value of that gold. I was so put off by how much that person (and the people who spouted that off as if it meant something) missed the spiritual point, that I still remember the episode.

I didn’t want to write about Revelation. But the small study group I attend is still in the book. It’s still on my mind.

There are many interpretations of the meaning of the writing. Several interpretations hold that it is an actual description of historical events to come. Even though God is explicit in his condemnation of fortune telling–predicting the future. (My interpretation, picked up from some of the early Church Fathers–who, by the way didn’t agree not only on the interpretation of the book but on whether to even include it in the official canon for teaching–is that it “describes” events that have already happened. Its focus is on the horrors of Rome, the destruction of the Temple, and how God’s people will triumph because God has already won the war.)

Don’t bother trying to argue the points with me. I don’t care. Someone in the group asked why our church doesn’t teach from the book. Well, I don’t teach from it. I can understand others.

The purpose of study is to learn how to live a life that’s pleasing to God–the with-God life. If a writing is so open to conjecture and argument, how can we learn from it? Paul condemned idle argumentation. I go with him.

Jesus said, “Follow me.” He said the Kingdom of God was there. I’m with him.

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Nothing False Here

April 18, 2014

My wife put the dish of strawberries on the table for dinner. It’s a good six weeks early for strawberries. But these looked perfect. The small firm ones that are sweet and juicy. Not the overly large ones that growers cynically think women buy because they are big not caring that there is no taste and they are hollow.

I see them all through dinner. Time for dessert. Yummm. But no! These are not those sweet, juicy ripe strawberries. I don’t know what gas they bathed these babies in to make them to appear prematurely ripe. These were not ripe. The consistency was terrible.

We are in such a rush to get what we want when we want it that we ignore the consequences of trying to outwit nature.

Jesus (OK, I’m expanding the metaphor here) kept telling his closest followers about the fullness of time and about his time being not now, or his time being now.

They didn’t understand. They thought they knew what they wanted and when they wanted it. But, they were wrong.

There cannot be anything false or misleading about the Jesus we celebrate at Easter. There are people who say even until today that the whole resurrection thing was just a huge marketing ploy. But how long does misleading marketing last? Not long. No 2,000 years.

It really was his time. His first followers would not have changed the world if were just a cynical marketing trick. He so changed their lives that they gave up theirs to spread his message.

Jesus didn’t say “Change your life so that you can follow me.” Jesus said, “Follow me and then your life will be changed.”

It worked 2,000 years ago and it works today.

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Meditations on Meditating

March 14, 2014

We are in the Christian season of Lent. As I’ve said previously, I grew up in a tradition where we did not really recognize Lent. As a kid, I knew that the Lutherans and Catholics chose something from which to abstain during Lent. I don’t even remember going to any special Ash Wednesday services.

I wonder if we practiced Advent mostly because of the commercial hype around gift giving. We had Advent calendars that marked off the days until Christmas. We had Christmas programs at church. We had Christmas programs at school (when approximately 100% of the school’s population is Christian, you could do that).

I’m meditating on Lent this year. Maybe because there is another movie out that, like the one by Mel Gibson several years ago, seems to focus on the death of Jesus. In some traditions, the “way of the Cross” is commemorated bringing to the front of mind the steps of Jesus from Pilate’s residence to the place of crucifixation.

We know the point of Christmas. It is that Jesus came into the world. For Lent, as it leads up to Good Friday and Easter there are two events. Death and resurrection. Tradition has us concentrating for 40 days (plus Sundays) on the death. We have one quick day celebrated by pastel colors and candy to remember the resurrection. And then it’s over.

Read Acts again. Read Paul’s letters. The first followers of Jesus did so because of the resurrection. That was the single most important event in our religious heritage.

Jesus said that he pointed the way to eternal life. John always uses the term in the present tense. Eternal life begins when you choose it. It also carries on to life with-God after we die–physically.

Those of us who meditate deeply understand the distinction of body and soul. We’ve experienced it.

We need a celebration to remember the resurrection all the time beginning with Easter and leading to Advent. It is our life now and our hope for the future.

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Living In The Spirit

March 11, 2014

John’s Gospel makes it very clear that what Jesus was talking about always pointed to living with the Spirit of God. When you interpret what Jesus said, you should always put your thoughts in the context of Spirit.

Philosophers and thinkers in the late 18th and the 19th Centuries discovered the lineage of spiritual writings. Much of it was from India and was Hindu and Buddhist. There are other sources, too, that pointed to meditation and the reality of the Spirit.

A German philosopher in I guess what we would call “typically German” wrote a few very long and in-depth books on how the Spirit moved through history and created history. His name was Hegel.

Another German came along at about the same time. He also wrote a huge book–Das Kapital. Marx’s thesis was that Hegel had it all wrong. It wasn’t the spirit that moved through and formed history. It was economics–money, material wealth. He said that he turned Hegel upside down.

Sometimes when we observe people, don’t we conclude that economics is indeed what drives people? We discuss politics and conclude that it’s all about the money. They’re chasing money. In business, we have people who chase money to the neglect of relationships and the spirit.

I even have run across Christians who are suspicious of people who may exhibit too much of the Spirit.

I’m reading the discourse in John where Jesus talks about eating his body and drinking his blood. Sounds pretty gross, doesn’t it. But Jesus said, in the same discourse, that it is the Spirit that gives life and that the words he spoke were in spirit and life.

We aren’t cannibals. We are participating with God in the spirit. The Spirit overcomes economics. The Spirit leads us, strengthens us and gives us life–in the present time.

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Simply Follow Jesus

March 7, 2014

It should be so simple.

Jesus just said to people, “Follow me.” He didn’t give them a test before the invitation. He didn’t ask them to be perfect–and the record shows that none were perfect.

Then he told us to go out and ask other people to follow. And, like him, teach them how to live.

Then we developed organizations. Few of the organizations started out to be large organizations. They just grew. Then they developed bureaucracies. Then people began to argue over what the organization’s rules would be. They might make a reference back to something Jesus said. They might not. But some thought one thing and others another. And they argued.

There is a church I know about that voted to disassociate from its denomination and join another. Serious issues about governance and theology.

A magazine came to my mailbox due to my position in my local church. It is from a group of people within my denomination who are arguing with other people in my denomination. They are so worked up and passionate about their cause, that they have a movement and a magazine.

My heart is tormented by all that. All the wasted passion. All the arguing. All the little games like kids in kindergarten about who’s right and who’s wrong and one trying to provoke the other. All in the name of the one who only said to follow him and invite others to follow him.

Do you realize that Jesus never invited someone who already believed in him? A couple of years into the ministry accompanied by his closest friends, he did something and “they believed.” What? How could that be? Yet, during the weekend of death and resurrection, still none understood and “believed.”

Following comes first. And we should be concerned that first we are followers and second that we help others to be followers. Why waste our time on frivolous nonsense that detracts from the goal?

“Follow me.” OK.

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Fasting For Lent

March 6, 2014

Have you given up something for Lent?

My friend is a very religious man. He is Catholic, traditional. He goes to Mass every morning. He also goes to the Y to exercise every day–he’s religious about that, too. Typical of the old German Catholics in our area, he likes his beer. He really only has one or two a day, but he makes it sound like he has more.

Every Lent, he gives up beer, fried foods and pastry (cakes, pies, and the like). Some of his family tell him that such a thing is bad for him. He’s 84 and healthy. He tells me that the he always feels much better physically when he fasts in that way. He started doing it for Advent, too.

My religious tradition recognizes Lent, but never talked about giving up something. That was something the Lutherans and Catholics did. Methodists might have an Ash Wednesday service (actually, we always had Maunday Thursday not Ash Wednesday as a regular service). My wife was a Baptist and also did not have very much of a Lenten routine.

Never taught about the Spiritual discipline of fasting, I guess I always thought about it as somewhat frivolous. We always talked about old Johnny G. who always gave up watermelon for Lent. In those days, you only got watermelon in season–and February, March and April was not the season!

I read Jon Swanson’s 300 Words a Day blog. He has written Lent for Non-Lent People. I probably should buy it.

The one thing that sets Christianity apart from other religions–especially the other monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam–is the resurrection of Jesus. Lent is the period of time traditionally set aside to contemplate the mystery of the event. As Paul wrote, without the resurrection, we are all fools in our belief. So, setting aside 40 days (you don’t count Sundays) to contemplate on the resurrection is worthwhile.

I’m in the contemplative tradition. That’s not really Methodist. But I am what I am. This post reflects my contemplation as I enter into the season.

Now, what should I give up?

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Living within Relationship

March 5, 2014

“They wanted to kill him all the more because he called himself Son of God, therefore making himself equal to God.”

John uses the story of the healing to lead into an argument about who Jesus is. The religious leaders didn’t like Jesus’ attitude toward the Sabbath. This struck right at the heart of their religious system. It struck at the very existence of their profession.

John often uses a “spiral” argument where he makes a statement and then restates drawing in an example, then restates drawing another example. I doubt that Jesus had this public discourse at that time in the Temple. Most likely John took Jesus’ statements and wove them into an argument in order to convince his readers who Jesus was.

Jesus was confounding the system and the people who perpetrate it. Instead of the idea of a remote God who could only be pleased if the worshipper follows all the rules and the rules about rules, Jesus brought the concept of relationship.

I am the Son of God, says Jesus. God is my Father. Remember in other places in the Gospels, it is recorded that Jesus calls us all into the relationship. He tells us to pray to the Father. He promises that we can be sons of God. This is competely revolutionary.

What is our experience with relationships? I think that I must have been borderline autistic (if there is such a thing) as a kid. Maybe not, but maybe just that I didn’t have any example of good relationships growing up. So I still have some difficulty that way. I can get withdrawn.

But then I experienced the relationship Jesus talks about. It changed everything. When Jesus talked about eternal life, it was in the present tense. It didn’t mean someday when you die and go to heaven. He almost never talked about that. Eternal life–life in relationship with God–begins when we enter into it. This preceeds understanding. It happens, then we begin to understand.

Forget about the rules. Jesus (and Paul quite forcefully) recognized that first comes relationship. Then in living in the relationship, we just naturally do the things that God wants us to do. Maybe not perfectly, but we grow into it.

Relationship comes first; then living according to the law. Not following all the rules first and then hoping that God will like you. The Pharisees had it backwards. So do today’s Pharisees.

I’ve spent many years now learning to live in relationship. How are you doing? Think about it.

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Be Intentional About What You Want

March 3, 2014

“Do you want to be well?”

Jesus asked the man with an unspecified illness at the edge of the Pool of Bethesda at the Temple that question.

We would expect the man to answer, “Yes! Of course! Please!”

Instead, the man whined and complained. “There’s no one around to help me into the water when it stirs and other people get there first.” (There was a superstition that when the water stirred in the pool an angel caused it and was there to heal the first person who dipped into it.)

Jesus evidently ignored the whining. He told the man to stand up, pick up his mat, and to go and sin no more and he would be well.

There is so much we don’t know. What was his sin that caused his illness? Indeed, what was his illness? Why did Jesus pick him? Why did Jesus ignore his whining and heal him?

None of this is the point of the story that John tells in his Gospel. But that’s OK. It’s worth contemplating.

How do we answer?

If someone walks up and offers help, what is our response? Thanks? Or some sort of whining excuse?

A guy I know uses the term “intentional” often. Pray intentionally for things, he’ll say. Pray intentionally for God to bring people into your life or bring the right circumstances into your life.

I thought about that word as I contemplated this story. Are we intentional about seeking healing? Are we intentional about seeking help for our challenges? Do we even know what we want?

Self-help gurus talk about goal setting. That can be a useful activity. However, being intentional about the kind of person we want to become or about healing us of our problems (physical, mental, emotional or spiritual) is really our first step toward a life in the Spirit.

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Is Fear Ruling Your Life?

January 30, 2014

I’m on a business trip to Austin, Texas. When I checked in, the agent said that there were two rooms open. A king bed on the first floor or doubles on the second.

I said, “I don’t care. Let’s check with my friend and see what he prefers.” He said that he preferred the higher floor. So, I took the first floor. The agent said that few people want the ground floor and that almost no woman traveling alone will take the ground floor.

Either I am clueless; or, I just don’t have fear on my mind. I am neither violent nor particularly physically strong. I just “decided” a long time ago not to live in fear.

Last week I was talking with a friend at lunch at a McDonalds. He nodded over to a guy sitting down to lunch with (I presume) his wife and young daughter. He neither was in uniform or looked like a policeman. He had a large handgun in a holster on his belt. I said, “I bet he feels secure, sort of, but I’d prefer not to get caught between two people living in fear and armed.”

There is so much fear drummed into our heads through incessant media coverage of all manner of things, when the reality is that things almost never happen–especially where I live. Most of the violence we read about is drug-related. If we stay out of that culture….

Scanning the magazine rack at the local Kroger in Sidney, I counted 21 gun magazines. I used to know of about 2. Even six months ago there were not so many. (I’m in the magazine business. I stop and check out titles and covers periodically.)

Matthew and Luke both tell of the time Jesus said, “Don’t fear those who can kill the body but not the soul. Instead fear him who can cast your soul into hell.”

My trust is in The Lord.

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