Can It Be?
April 5, 2010
We celebrated Easter Sunday yesterday. The churches were full. Unusually full. Many have done their duty nodding their allegiance by their twice a year obligatory attendance at church. How large a percentage of “Christians” is this worldwide is hard to estimate. Vestiges of Christ remain among many in Western “Christianized” societies. Now life can go back to its usual drabness in the midst of a chaotic dog-eat-dog world.
Knowing Christ is life. Life that is stamped eternal, in kind and content. Life that saves from drab existence. “Salvation is life,” says Dallas Willard. A life that God infuses in us by various instrumentalities the chief of which is the Holy Spirit of God. Eugene Peterson calls this life Practicing Resurrection.
Those who practice resurrection life have God’s life: self-initiating, self-directing, and self-sustaining. They don’t have this life from within. It comes from without, from God. But when life comes to humans from God (Regeneration, or Salvation as life) is takes on the characteristics of God-life. This God-life is the activity of God penetrating “the darkened world of the human soul and begins to act in it and around it” (from Spiritual Formation as a Natural Part of Salvation, quoted from D. Willard in Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological PErspective, ed. Jeffrey P. Greenman and George Kalantzis, IVP Academic). This life invasion is the stuff of poetry, and song. Charles Wesley wrote of it (Willard quotes this stanza from Can It Be That I Should Gain) to describe this salvific living:
“Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin an nature’s night; thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee.”
Now that the resurrection celebration has taken its rightful place on the calendar, and the crowds have finished their Hosannas, I pray that resurrection life will take its rightful place every minute of our existence, who remain as church people. Let’s arise with Him, go forth, and follow Him, demonstrating that by loving God and loving others we are truly practicing resurrection.
Rule of Benedict 45
March 28, 2010
Benedict continues dealing with humility in verses 9-13 of Chapter 7 of his rule. Previously he spoke of Jacob’s ladder. He continues on the same theme.
The sides of the same ladder we understand to be our body and soul, in which the call of God has placed various steps of humility or discipline, which we must ascend. The first step of humility, then, is that a person always keeps the fear of God before his eyes (Ps 36:2), avoiding forgetfulness: that he is ever mindful of all that God has commanded; that those who despise God will be consumed in hell for their sins; and that he always considers that life everlasting is prepared for those who fear God. And keeping himself at all times from sin and vice, whether of thoughts, tongue, eyes, hands, feet, or his own will, let him thus hasten to cast away the desires of the flesh. Let him consider that he is always beheld from heaven by God, and that his actions are everywhere seen by the eye of the Divine Majesty, and are every hour reported to God by the angels.
Two thoughts: one, humility is not a passive stance. We can do something to humble ourselves before almighty God by living in awe of God, not forgetting his ways, not giving free will to our sinful nature. Two, that our lives are open books, lived in the presence of God. We can hide nothing, not with figs, not with twigs, not with brick or mortar, not with denial. The Divine Majesty pays attention to our lives. We give account. We live in the company of angels, open to the cosmos to see. What we do in the dark, is revealed in the light. Not for condemnation but for mercy.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. I desire to climb this ladder of humility but with God’s enabling. The upward mobility that I seek is from an external show of humility to the internal height of self-denial, and holy self-love. I desire to live by the fear of the Lord as guide and I desire to live in obedience so that the crown of righteousness I receive from your hand can be placed at your feet: “Lord you showed mercy. I give back to you the gift of humility.”
Lord Jesus, have mercy. Amen.
A Good Life
August 21, 2009
I just finished and strongly recommend Robert Benson’s A Good Life: Benedict’s Guide to Everyday Joy. Here is a small taste.
“Many of us do not even know much about the office anyway. We are not always taught that this way of praying is part of our heritage as faithful people. The liturgies and forms and practices have long since been dropped from the ways that we are taught.
Our lives are already very busy from morning until night-too hectic, it seems, to stop two or three times each day and read the prayers from a book or to say them from memory. We live in a world in which we are encouraged to multitask, and to read books on tape (which is something that actually cannot be done, if you think about it). We eat fast food, expect overnight delivery, and sign up for instant messaging. We get too little sleep, have too many commitments and too much on our plate most days and weeks.
So we look for books that can help us pray our way to powerful Christian living in ten minutes a day, and we wonder why we are often left feeling somehow devoid of God’s presence in our lives.
“Can you not stay with me for one hour?” asks Jesus of the ones who said they loved him.
“Can you not move a little more quickly?” we seem to be saying in return.
If it is beginning to sound to you like I am trying to sell you something, it is only because I am. And if you have begun to feel that I am preaching to the choir, remember that I am in the choir myself and have been in it long enough to know that this is the best way to get us to sing.
For centuries, the payer of the office was at the center of the life of those who would serve the God that we say we want to serve. The people of Yahweh, our mothers and fathers, and the people of the early church and the people of the church across the years since–the desert monastics, the ones who kept the church alive through the Dark Ages, the ones ho wrestled it through the Reformation, regardless of which side they were on-kept such traditions of prayer alive. They preserved the prayer, they observed the prayer, and they have now handed those traditions of prayer to us in our time.
It may well be time for us to pick up the mantle, shoulder the burden, take up the song, or whatever metaphor you want to choose. It may be time for us to learn to pray the hours, to do the Work of God-with devotion, with art, with discipline, and with care.
It is reasonable to wonder about the efficacy of such prayer, especially when it is unfamiliar to us. And so much has been written and said about dead liturgy and dry, rote prayers that we are right to enter into such prayer with care and with discernment. And we are certainly wise to consider the time and effort that it will take to say such prayer.”
Rule of Benedict 35
July 21, 2009
I am in San Antonio, Texas, enjoying my 24 hours old grandson Brae. The miracle of life possesses indescribable beauty. Bless God with me for Brae.
The life of monastics at times seems restrictive. Some see it as impossible because of its restrictive characteristics. On the other hand a different perception of restrictions is possible. Restrictions can also be freeing. If you chose to only do some things you free yourself from having to do others.
What do you think of Benedict’s Rule 4:51-54.
Keep your mouth from evil and wicked words. Do not be excessively talkative. Do not speak vain words or words intended only to provoke laughter. Do not love excessive laughter.
Is this sound advice? Would yo follow it? Why do you think Benedict insists here about the use of words and laughter?
Comment: The key to this advice is the words excessively and excessive. With silence selling cheap and words of pundits earn them in the millions I see Benedict’s advice as a corrective. Silence is short changed and words are over valued. Our words can lead us astray and distance us from Christ. That is why we should measure them and consider what comes out of our mouths to see its real worth. Does it contribute to godliness or not? Laughter, we are told is therapeutic. But laughter also easily distracts us from life with God. Again, silence here gives us the needed corrective to words and laughter. Certainly words and laughter are not bad by themselves. But when when they distract us Christ, or when we neglect to use them for the cause of Christ, perhaps we err and refuse word and laughter for the sake of the kingdom.
Prayer: Lord, you gave us speech. You gave us silence. You gave us laughter. Whatever we use to draw near to you, words and laughter, bless them. Teach us to be silent and to know when not to speak nor laugh. Amen. Christ, have mercy.
Rule of Benedict 34
July 13, 2009
It’s hard to believe that I have posted on the same Rule of St Benedict so many times yet I am not even close to the end. I trust that a meditation on this rule has been as helpful to you as to me. I appreciate Benedict because he got serious about following Jesus as best he understood him in his day. There is benefit to us all from such faithfulness.
Chapter 4:50. This verse says: Dash down at the feet of Christ your evil thoughts, the instant that they come into your heart; and lay them open to your spiritual father.
I am reminded of these lines from the hymn: Oh (a cry of lament) what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Dashing the temptation the moment it enters our mind (the window of its opportunity) or carrying it to God in prayer, is the smartest thing we can do. Another thing we can and should do more often is dash them at the feet of an experienced spiritual companion or brother or sister int he Lord. These are practices that will save us much suffering. Dash (as if out of hate) the temptation against the feet of Christ. It is where it belongs. There it will dissolve as Christ’s tears wash over it. Tears of joy because we did not indulge it. The speed at which we learn to do this can save us much fear, much shame, much anxious living.
Prayer: Have mercy on me O God, I cry with the sinner of old. O Christ, tempted in everyway as we, sin never entered thee. Its power without influence on thee. In thy perfection thou hast shown, in thy mercy thou has proven, that I in thee am able of the same grandeur of spirit, victory over sin, and largess of life. The victory is mine as abiding with thee be mine. Amen. Christ, have mercy.
The Word, Faith and Salvation
July 11, 2009
“Jesus, unlike the founder of any other major faith, holds out hope for ordinary human life. Our future is not an ethereal, impersonal form of consciousness. We will not float through the air, but rather will eat, embrace, sing, laugh, and dance in the kingdom of God, in degrees of power, glory, and joy that we can’t at present imagine.
Jesus will make the world our perfect home again. We will no longer be living “east of Eden,” always wandering and never arriving. we will come, and the father will meet us and embrace us, and we will be brought into the feast. ” Timothy Keller; The Prodigal God p 104
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that
was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care (1 Peter 1:5, 9-10)
It appears to me that for Peter, salvation is future. IF we yearn for spiritual nourishment (1 Peter 2:2) we will grow into that final salvation that is being protected for us by God as we continue in our faith (1 Peter 1:4,5).
In other words, the “hope of salvation for ordinary life” is begun by faith when we first believe. Is it fair to say that birth is not a guarntee of an abundant and full life, but it does provide the opportunity. New birth is only the beginning, followed by a long, hard, joyous journey to salvation (future hope). Therefore we should strive to rid ourselves of sin and desire the word of God which nourishes our faith. It is only the faith that expresses itself though love that has value (Gal. 5:6).
Therefore today I want to feast on the word of God which nourishes my faith. Today I desire that my faith would express itself in love and I look forward to the day when my ordinary life has been restored.
Confession 10
July 7, 2009
Do you have a time of confession daily? Do you think it is necessary?
Acknowledging our weaknesses before God is helpful and instructive. It helps us in the humbling of ourselves before the Lord our God. It situates us in the right place as creatures before our creator, as sinners before the Holy One.
Confession works when we understand ourselves as God understands us. Deeply flawed persons who are deeply loved and graced. But beyond understanding there is agreement. In confessing my sins to God (or to others I offend) I am turning or changing my mind about my innocence before God and others. Love and grace flow to me to cover me and heal my brokenness.
Because confession takes courage and strength of character two implications follow:
1. The Holy Spirit initiates the need for it in our lives. He gives needed courage to face our weaknesses.
2. It is developed in the process of kingdom of God living. Confession can become a discipline of our lives that shapes our character in the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Holy Spirit of God, enable to confess freely and without excuses. Teach us to know what to confess and by doing so make us followers of Jesus who value integrity. Amen. Christ, have mercy.
Waiting
July 3, 2009
Imagine yourself in this scene.
You have just been anointed the first King of Israel, I would guess that comes with a decent amount of pressure to succeed! You have already attacked the Philistines once and have really irritated them. They have now come out in force. You are way out numbered. Much of your army has gone into hiding. Those who remain are quaking with fear. You are way outnumbered! All eyes are on you as the newly anointed King. You want to attack, you want to prove yourself, you want to serve your God and your people well. And here is the rub. When you were selected by God, through Samuel to be king, you were instructed, “God down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do (1 Samuel 10:8).
You are now caught between waiting as you were instructed and the military needs of your people. You can not fulfill both. What would you do? Would you have the discipline to wait or would you lazily give in to the pressure (and pride) to act now?
If you are like Saul, you “get creative” and refuse to succumb to the tyranny of “either/or”. You do not want to fight without having offered sacrifices, but at the same time you see your “quaking” men are deserting after a full week of inactivity. (Can you imagine waiting a full 7 days under that king of pressure?) Saul, tired of waiting, takes it upon himself to make the sacrifices Samuel had promised to offer (after all, Samuel had given Saul “priestly honor” 9:23, 24;10::4).
Samuel arrives to discover the “foolish thing” Saul has done and says, “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had , he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’S command.”
Ultimately, Saul’s action undoes him as he is rebuked by Samuel, abandoned by his people and rejected by God.
(Reflections on 1 Samuel 13: 5-15, see also Psalm 131)
Healing in his wings
May 29, 2009
I was reminded yesterday of the axiom, “Hurting people, hurt people.” My 12 year old son, Logan, came in the house on the last day of school fighting back tears. Apparently one of his closest friends said some very mean things to him. Logan’s heart was crushed! He was hurt and wounded deeply and now flowing out of his heart and mouth was more pain and hurt. Hurting people, hurt people. (I suspect that the friend who “hurt” my son is carrying around more pain and brokenness than his small body can contain.
You and I are no different. We too have been hurt, some of us very deeply. We’ve been betrayed, lied to, lied about, abandoned, abused, forgotten and forsaken. It is reality. The question is, “What do we do with that pain and brokenness? How do we love others, instead of using them to find our own healing?
There is a tremendous story told by both Luke and Matthew. Luke phrases it this way, “As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.”
A couple quick observations.
1. Like each of us, this woman new what it was like to suffer. She understands what it’s like to be betrayed, rejected, taken advantage of, ostracized and forgotten.
2. After 12 years of searching and hoping to find healing, she learned “no one could heal her.” Too often many of us look to the approval of others to find healing for our broken and bruised lives. We too know the disappointment left over from those failed attempts.
3. After pushing through the crowd, she touched the edge (kanaph) of Jesus cloak and found healing. Malachi 4:2 had told of the day when “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings (kanaph).” (In Hebrew the word for wings and edge is the same; kanaph.)
4. This woman believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah; that in himself there was healing power, she but needed to take hold of him.
We are all broken people, struggling to find peace and wholeness in our fractured world. We can continue to search for wholeness in the approval of others or we can push through with desperate hearts and take hold of Jesus and find healing in His wings.
May God grant all of us who are broken this day to press on to take hold of the One who is already holding onto us!
Praying Colossians 4
May 19, 2009
Praying Scripture is a rewarding experience. Using Holy Spirit inspired words (their attendant meanings and referents) that have been comforting believers for millennia is an edifying experience. Praying Scripture also assures us that we are praying according to the will of God which instructs us to be fully prepared to serve him faithfully.
Today, we pray with Paul and the Church from Colossians 1: 7-8.
1:7 You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave - a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf – 1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Paul continues to commend the Colossians in a spirit of gratitude to God for receiving the gospel, for living the gospel, and for loving God and one another in the Spirit according to the gospel teachings.
Prayer: So today, Jesus, I pray with gratitude for those who have been faithful like Epaphras to bring the gospel to me. I name Kathy, Billie, Paul, Dan, Dianne and others. I also thank you, O Revealer of all truth, for opening my eyes to see, and moving me to enter into the kingdom of light in Christ Jesus. This is no personal achivement by sheer grace. I confess before you and before the world of my inability to live the gospel but for your strong presence in my weakness. I also pray, lover of my soul, that the world may see me and your church and marvel at the love we have for you, and for the world. Glorify your name in all the earth through your church. Amen, Christ have mercy.
Praying Colossians 3
May 13, 2009
In this series of praying through Scriptures, I am learning that in order to pray the Scriptures, time is needed for reflection, for paying attention to the presence of God, and for paying attention to the condition of my soul, and my heart’s desire. I have the impression that Paul, though he did not know he was writing Scripture, he was in deep prayer (communion with God) and that this letter was not just dictated but breathed by God through Paul for the sake of the the Colossians, North Carolinians, Topekans, and Kansas Citians.
1:5 Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel 1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.
Prayer: Jesus, I am experiencing the truth of these words of your servant Paul and the Holy Spirit. I am tasting faith and love that spring from hope. I see brokenness around me always and this present brokenness, which I know will be put to rights, inspires me to express love, trust, and faithfulness in my walk with you and for the sake of others. Your word is alive in me. What more do I want?
I also pray that the power of the gospel, which is foolishness to paganism, will continue to spread in our world, the only hope our world has. Help me and my brothers and sisters in Christ, in our various societies of Jesus, to increase in our faith and undrstanding of the unlimited truth that is the gospel. This is good news about you, it’s you, and by default is unfathomable. Give me my share of it. I trust you for it. Give my borthers and sister in Christ their shares of it and together we will be the wiser for it. Amen. Christ have mercy.
Rule of Benedict 29
May 10, 2009
This week’s reading of the Rule (the way of life) of Benedict is from verses 34-38 of the fourth chapter. See previous posts for other entries. Going through the Rule methodically has been eye opening of the vision, intentionality, and means of living and loving in community of like-minded followers of Christ. Personally I am challenged by its rigorous demands, demands that are no less than what Christ demanded of his own.Today’s exhortations of life in community are just as challenging as others. There is no more thoroughly biblical rule than that of Benedict. Notice the biblical content and the added references.
Do not be proud, nor given to much wine (Titus 1:7; 1 Tim 3:3). Do not be a glutton, nor given to much sleeping, nor slothful (Rom 12:11).
Comment: Benedict saw that there is a direct relationship between our bodily appetites and needs and the possibility of failing to follow Christ faithfully. Historically, Christians were austere people. They were not given to lavish lifestyles. They did not confuse heavenly blessings with material possessions, and earthly pleasures. They sought to live ethically upon the earth while at the same time celebrating God’s goodness. I seldom hear of God’s blessings today without a monetary mention as if this mattered most.
Lectio: Gluttony leads to sleepiness leads to laziness. Deliver us O Lord.
Prayer: Lord, I consider the first and most important blessing in my life is You. Helping to not seek any substitute. Lord, have mercy on me!
Gluttony, being given to too much sleep, and laziness are hardly ever the subjects of preaching/teaching in the church. Why not? Why is fasting, prayer vigils through the night, and industriousness not considered needful disciplines in the church?
CDP 2
May 8, 2009
Celtic Daily Prayer has been our chosen way at Missional Order to order our days. We have chosen to order our days around four spiritual pauses to focus our hearts, souls, and minds on the only Ground of our being: father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a valuable way to help us be intentional about growing in grace. Experience tells us that without intention it is impossible to accomplish the vision of Christ likeness we so desire as those intent on doing life with God. A garden untended grows wild. A life untended grows stale.
Today’s readings from CDP are all about intention. Here they are:
Psalm 42:11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.
A conversation with ourselves is an essential way of attending to our inner thoughts, feelings, and attitudes. Whatever that conversation yields is placed in hope into the hands of God. By default, O Lord, make me to always hope in you.
Jeremiah 21:8 Furthermore, tell the people, This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.
We come to forks in the road daily, hourly, even more often. Choosing the way of life must be a deliberate action. The inner voice always cries out for the right choice unless the cares of this world have choked it out. Our baser parts heed the wrong voice for a wrong choice leading to interrupted relationality with the Lord. A moment of decision sets the course of a day, even a life. You bid me, my Lord, to tell the people. So I tell, first my soul, then the soul of others: Mind the little decisions.
2 Corinthians 11:3–4 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Deception is constant. It is as constant as our wills are determined on devotion to Christ. The cosmic forces that seek to thwart our attention away from God, Jesus, and the gospel are not only real but also disguised. It takes the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job to be discerning. Lord Jesus Christ make me discerning of anything that would come between us and merciless in eliminating it from my life.
[May] I find Thee enthroned in my heart,
my Lord Jesus.
It is enough.
I know that Thou art throned
in heaven.
[May} My heart and heaven are [be] one.
Alistair Maclean
Confession 5
May 4, 2009
I did a quick search on “I confess” on the NEXTBIBLE website http://net.bible.org/bible.php and discovered these verses:
John 1:20 He confessed – he did not deny but confessed – “I am not the Christ!”
Mat 3:6 and he was baptizing them 1 in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.
Psa 38:18 Yes, 1 I confess my wrongdoing, and I am concerned about my sins.
Lev 5:5 when an individual becomes guilty with regard to one of these things he must confess how he has sinned,
Neh 9:2 Those truly of Israelite descent separated from all the foreigners, standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
Act 19:18 Many of those who had believed came forward, confessing and making their deeds known.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.
Phi 2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
What I have noticed about these verses and confession in Scripture is that more often than not is that confession is specific. When the confession is a proclamation of the truth (Jesus is the Christ, or John saying I am not the Christ), or is an admission of sin (make their deeds known), it is specific, or named.
It is good for us and we are encouraged to be specific when we confess our sins to others, and to God, to know exactly what our sin is. Naming our sins is good for us and demonstrates our willingness to take ownership of them.
What is your habit in confessing your sins?
When I’m tired I seem to be more general. Because confession demands alertness of spirit, perhaps we should do it when we are most alert. Some are more alert in the morning while others at other times of the day.
Guided Prayer Retreat
May 4, 2009
Do you ever desire to set aside more time for prayer? Maybe even a whole day dedicated to listening and discovering what God is saying? But perhaps you haven’t been certain on how to best organize such a day. Or maybe you thought it would be helpful to participate with like minded people in such an endeavor.
If this is the case in your spiritual journey, then we hope you can join us for a one day guided prayer retreat on Thursday, June 4th here in Kansas City. We will be meeting from 9:00am to 4:00pm at the Tall Oaks Conference Center. Tall Oaks is located in Linwood, KS half way between Kansas City and Lawrence. For a map and directions to Tall Oaks you can go here.
Our prayer “guide” for the day will be Dr. Liam Atchison. Liam has been a seminary professor and church planting pastor, and is an historian and teacher. He and his wife Precious co-authored a book called Grief, published by NavPress. Liam is a graduate of Kansas State University, where he received his PhD in the history of hermeneutics, and Dallas Theological Seminary, where he received a Master of Theology. He was founding editor of the Christian cultural journal Mars Hill Review and has written a number of articles on history and on spiritual growth. He is the founder of Emmanuel House, a graduate theological study center in Manhattan, KS and Lincoln, NE that emphasizes knowing God and knowing ourselves as a theological basis for becoming effective readers of the biblical text, people, and culture.
Liam directed the biblical counseling program at Colorado Christian University in the halcyon days of the 1990s, where Dr. Larry Crabb was both a colleague and mentor. Liam went on to be a founder and the academic dean at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary’s Seattle (Now Mars Hill Graduate School) campus, before founding Emmanuel House in 2002. He was the ancient history teacher at K-State from 2005 to 2008, when he was nominated for Professor of the Year by his undergraduate students (he didn’t win, but what was cool was that the national professor of the year won!). A coffee snob from his years in the Pacific Northwest, Liam sees baseball as a spiritual exercise, loves telling stories, and seriously, seriously bleeds purple.
The cost of the one day retreat will be a very reasonable $15 (which even includes lunch!). If you are interested in joining us or have questions please leave a comment or email me at brad.brisco@gmail.com
Hope you can join us on June 4th.
Rule of Benedict 28
May 4, 2009
The Rule of Benedict has been translated umpteen times. The translation that I’m using is by Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB (a Catholic acronym designating the Order of Saint Benedict). For ease of use translators divide the Rule into chapters and verses.
At Missional Order we are committed to learning from all those who followed Christ faithfully before us and are now following him into the life that is truly life in Christ Jesus. Benedict, I believe, is a good teacher of the Way of Christ. The Rule that he left his fellow followers of Christ has stood the test of time as an eminently practical guide.
Chapter 4:29-33
Do not render evil for evil (1 Thess 5:15, 1 Pet 3:9). Do no wrong to anyone; rather, bear patiently the wrong done to yourself. Love you enemies (Matt 5:44; Luke 6:27). o not render cursing for cursing, but rather blessing. bear persecution for justice’s sake (Matt 5:10).
Comment: The New Testament makes it clear that loving those who love us is no great accomplishment. Love of those who don’t is. Loving of those who wish to hurt us is. Loving our enemies is a mandate, not a choice. The reason the New Testament harps on this is because we don’t come by it naturally. We must cultivate it through hours, days, and years (yes years) of intentional formation of our character (heart, soul, mind, social interactions, and body). Benedict discerned this reality from reading the scripture and his way of the spiritually formative life promotes the love of the enemy as a natural way of life, as a first response force in our lives.
Lectio: Do no wrong, bear the wrongs done to you patiently. I get you Jesus. You did it well. You showed me the way. You proved it can be done. I’ve gotten glimpses of it, it’s been rumored possible.
Prayer: Jesus, make me like you able to respond in love when hurt is hurled at me. Make me compassionate, when hate is aimed at me. Make me suffer quietly when it is easier to respond in kind to the sufferings others inflict on me. Amen. Jesus, have mercy.
Your turn: add your prayer to mine if you dare to be vulnerable.
Confession 4
April 28, 2009
No one is better than Nouwen on personal reflection.
Wendy Wilson Greer compiled and edited some of the writings of Henri Nouwen in a 1999 book called: The Only Necessary Thing. This book is twice blessed since it features many of Nouwen’s prayer writings, and the thoughtful, organizing skills of Greer. In the first section called Desire she quotes the following from “Prayer and the Jealous God by Nouwen” in The New Oxford Review 52, No. 5 (June 1985): 7-12.
God’s Desire for Us
I am deeply convinced that the necessity to pray, and to pray unceasingly, is not so much based on our desire for God as on God’s desire for us. It is God’s passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer. Prayer comes from God’s initiative not ours. It might sound shocking, but it is biblical to say: God wants us more that we want God! The English spiritual writer Anthony Bloom (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh) says it better than I when he writes:
We complain htat God does not make himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for him, but that about the twnety-three and a half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer, “I am busy. I am sorry.” Or when we do not answer at all because we do not even hear the knock at htedoor of our heart, of our mind, of our conscience, of our life. So there is a situation in which we have no right to comoplain of the absence of God, because we are a great deal more absent that he ever is.
Nouwen continues:
So, who is more in need of our prayer: We or God? God is. Who wants to be heard most: We or God? God does. And who “suffers” more from our lack of prayer: We or God? I say it in awe but without fear: God does. As long as we continue to reduce prayer to occasional piety we keep running away form the mystery of God’s jealous love, the love in which we are created, redeemed, and made holy.
My confession: Dear God, I confess that I don’t desire you as much as you desire me. Hear my confession and help me desire you more.
Shaped by the Story
April 17, 2009
What happens when we read Scripture as God’s Story and with great determination figure out how to insert our lives into that Story, rather than trying to figure out when and where we can fit God into our busy lives?
In his book, Shaped by the Story, Michael Novelli provides the following summary of God’s story with the thread of kingdom running throughout.
“From the very beginning’s of the story, God expresses a desire to live in close harmony with God’s creation and for God’s creation to enjoy his kingdom rule. God created humans as image-bearers of the divine, continuing God’s creativity and care of creation on earth. Then humans decided to create their own kingdoms, where they could live according to their own desires.
So God set in motion a kingdom agenda to restore creation to wholeness. Story after Bible story describes the amazing lengths God went to in order to extend grace to us-to give humans opportunities to reconnect our broken relationship with him. God even came and dwelled with the Jewish nation-a community God chose to distinctly live while reflecting the ways of God the King.
The apex of the kingdom storyline is found in Jesus. Jesus announced the kingdom of God breaking into history, displaying God’s restorative power in his life, miracles, and words. At the cross Jesus gained decisive victory over evil for us, liberating us from the power of sin. Then Jesus entered as the firstborn into the -resurrection life of restored creation. God’s Spirit was sent to continue the restorative work, empowering a global community of people called the church to embody God’s kingdom, join in God’s actions, and tell God’s Story. to the world.
How is your faith community emodying God’s kingdom in your community? How do you see your church fitting into God’s redemptive story? What “part” or “role” will you “act out” today?
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