- A long time ago I began to have a deep-seated suspicion of Paul's teachings. They are so different from Jesus' and the Apostle's teachings that I feel like he is an alien influence of sorts. One of my favorite passages, but one I also discounted the most, was Paul's usage of temple language when discussing the human body (1 Cor. 6:19). Yet, today, though I had probably read it a dozen times, God highlighted the verse in John 2:21 where John writes, after Jesus' clearing of the Temple, "...The temple he had spoken of was his body." The only thing clearer than that would have been Christ himself using that language. Every time I try to discount Paul's teachings, something else comes up and leads me to think it's not really as I once saw it.
- Probably the biggest point He made today revolved around a few attitudes and struggles I have been having of late. I wrote a few weeks back about frustration and have been quietly wrestling with a sense of meaninglessness with regards to my personal life and work. While fumbling through some passages I came to Romans 8:18. The first sentence caught my eye, but it was the word "frustration" that really jumped out at me. Reading through the entire post, I felt a very clear response to my pleadings with the Lord to help me understand what is going on in my life. The body of Romans 8:18-21 reads as follows:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
The creation referred to here is "ktisis". An excellent discussion of the term, as is it used by Paul in this passage, is discussed by Rich Deem is discussed here. In this passage, Deem outlines that the creation alluded to by Paul must be a rational, and therefore, human creation. Within the context of the passage, he also outlines that this creation can be concluded as being the Gentile body the gospel is aimed to reach.
That being said, my own frustration ties more closely with the futility of an unredeemed mind. Were I to be submitting to Christ in all things, I would have a different attitude about the struggles in my life. They are not, as Paul writes, worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us." As I pray through this and God continues to give me mercy and revelation, He is showing and molding me to have a more Christ-like attitude and ultimately, a God-like character. Praise God for his revelation and loving kindness.
Even more interesting than this, the passage that caught my attention, is that the editors of the bible I use titled the next section "More than Conquerers". Romans 8:37 pinpoints a stronger point. The inherent meaning of my name, William, is "conquerer" or "resolute defender" depending on the etymology; at times I see that as being very significant because I feel faced with great warfare that I feel God calls me to overcome...to conquer. But, putting this into the context of this recent bit of insight, I am inclined to hear that God is aiming to give me peace about the sense of meaninglessness and frustration I have in my life.
Beyond this gift of understanding, I am to understand, and actively move forward with my choices and attitudes, being aware that, in as much as my namesake impels me to overcome and conquer, Paul's writings indicate that the innate drive commanded by my namesake stops short of God's call. In fact, we are called to realize, reflecting back on Paul's statement in verse 18, that he spoke of the incomparable glory to which our troubles might be compared , verse 35 recalls this point and reminds us that nothing shall separate us from his love. That glory is beyond the realm of conquering, a glory of inseparable love, which even our problems, not matter how great, cannot steal, kill or destroy. Conquerers overcome and cast down, but, their power is one of passing right. Christ's love, on the other hand, shall never be overcome. Once it is in us, it cannot be replaced. Nothing we face can compare to this. This is a deeply powerful truth and I pray God would help me to sear it into the depths of my being so I can live as one who is more than a conquerer.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
As seems to be the consistent trend of late, God talked to me a lot during service this morning. Here are a few of the things he remarked upon:
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Are the sinners in your life really sinful enough?
I wonder at times if I inject myself far enough into the world to draw God's power as fully as He wants to demonstrate it. My first answer is, sure, there are sinners everywhere, we're all sinners. But, my second glancing blow at the question sticks a little bit more. Jesus hung out with prostitutes (I don't do that), tax collections (I don't do that), sick and dying-if not dead-people (I don't do that), the outcast (I don't do that) and the generally all-around-unaccepted-and-unacceptable people in our society. So, how do I do that?
As a parent, I think, I don't want my kids exposed to things that could give them bad influences. But, then I am forced to think of the Apostles. Peter most likely had children. We know he was married because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Mother-in-laws only come in one flavor, though marriage relationships. To imagine Peter having children is really not a far stretch at this point. So, I wonder, what did Peter think? Did he ever wonder if his kids were going to get a bad influence as he followed Jesus around healing leprosy, talking to Samaritan women and healing the dead?
In today's world, we are so afraid of these things that we isolate ourselves from those who need us most. I know as a parent, I don't want prostitutes in my house because they might do things that will make my children go ways that are potentially sinful. But, in reality, I think Christ would be saddened by this. This quietly presumes that God is not capable of protecting my kids. I guess part of it is the idea that I do not feel truly capable of protecting my kids and my wife from the things that might enter our lives when we open those doors.
Sometimes people who are on the edge of society are less concerned with obeying societies rules and tend to do more of what they want or need to do regardless of the consequences. That kind of abandon frightens me. What if a crack addict we try to heal doesn't accept Christ, breaks into my house and kills one of my kids? Or, what if one of the prostitutes we try to heal has AIDS and affects one of us? These are real questions, but certainly not things God can't take care of. I guess I confess my fear outweighs my faith at this point and pray that God will give me the courage to do the things he places in my spirit regardless of what my mind presents as valid reasons for not doing these things.
I think about the irony of 1 Corinthians. This book of the Bible is often one of the most cited, most "Christian" books in the entire New Testament. It talks about love, spiritual gifts and the Body of Christ. But, people forget that Paul was writing a congregation that had orgies, sexual sin, pride, incest and internal division and strife as some of the more obvious issues going on in their midst. Now, let me ask you, if your church was in this state, would you still be attending it? I know it was a different time and sexual practices were more tied to religion of that day, but, still, these people had some major sin issues.
At the heart of the fact is this: Paul was allowed to speak some of the most powerfully unpacked applications of Christ's life in this epistle because the sin was so great. Indeed, corporate education is needed to impact the ignorance and lack of faith demonstrated by these people because fundamental understandings and principles of Christ was truly grasped in this body. Minor issues are easily dealt with, but, the great power of Christ is most clearly displayed where the most deficient segments of relationship and understanding of God are. For me, to impact the way the Apostles impacted, I have to do something radical, something that goes to the root of the situation, and go where their is the most ignorance of Christ, both as the result of negligence and as the result of willful rejection. There Christ, as he did with the Corinthians, can do the most good. It is those who don't know that can be affected the most, because if you do know and simply don't do, you are responsible for your own lack of responsiveness to the call of Christ.
I wonder at times if I inject myself far enough into the world to draw God's power as fully as He wants to demonstrate it. My first answer is, sure, there are sinners everywhere, we're all sinners. But, my second glancing blow at the question sticks a little bit more. Jesus hung out with prostitutes (I don't do that), tax collections (I don't do that), sick and dying-if not dead-people (I don't do that), the outcast (I don't do that) and the generally all-around-unaccepted-and-unacceptable people in our society. So, how do I do that?
As a parent, I think, I don't want my kids exposed to things that could give them bad influences. But, then I am forced to think of the Apostles. Peter most likely had children. We know he was married because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Mother-in-laws only come in one flavor, though marriage relationships. To imagine Peter having children is really not a far stretch at this point. So, I wonder, what did Peter think? Did he ever wonder if his kids were going to get a bad influence as he followed Jesus around healing leprosy, talking to Samaritan women and healing the dead?
In today's world, we are so afraid of these things that we isolate ourselves from those who need us most. I know as a parent, I don't want prostitutes in my house because they might do things that will make my children go ways that are potentially sinful. But, in reality, I think Christ would be saddened by this. This quietly presumes that God is not capable of protecting my kids. I guess part of it is the idea that I do not feel truly capable of protecting my kids and my wife from the things that might enter our lives when we open those doors.
Sometimes people who are on the edge of society are less concerned with obeying societies rules and tend to do more of what they want or need to do regardless of the consequences. That kind of abandon frightens me. What if a crack addict we try to heal doesn't accept Christ, breaks into my house and kills one of my kids? Or, what if one of the prostitutes we try to heal has AIDS and affects one of us? These are real questions, but certainly not things God can't take care of. I guess I confess my fear outweighs my faith at this point and pray that God will give me the courage to do the things he places in my spirit regardless of what my mind presents as valid reasons for not doing these things.
I think about the irony of 1 Corinthians. This book of the Bible is often one of the most cited, most "Christian" books in the entire New Testament. It talks about love, spiritual gifts and the Body of Christ. But, people forget that Paul was writing a congregation that had orgies, sexual sin, pride, incest and internal division and strife as some of the more obvious issues going on in their midst. Now, let me ask you, if your church was in this state, would you still be attending it? I know it was a different time and sexual practices were more tied to religion of that day, but, still, these people had some major sin issues.
At the heart of the fact is this: Paul was allowed to speak some of the most powerfully unpacked applications of Christ's life in this epistle because the sin was so great. Indeed, corporate education is needed to impact the ignorance and lack of faith demonstrated by these people because fundamental understandings and principles of Christ was truly grasped in this body. Minor issues are easily dealt with, but, the great power of Christ is most clearly displayed where the most deficient segments of relationship and understanding of God are. For me, to impact the way the Apostles impacted, I have to do something radical, something that goes to the root of the situation, and go where their is the most ignorance of Christ, both as the result of negligence and as the result of willful rejection. There Christ, as he did with the Corinthians, can do the most good. It is those who don't know that can be affected the most, because if you do know and simply don't do, you are responsible for your own lack of responsiveness to the call of Christ.
Salvation.
In all of my experience with Christianity, no other single word has been so misunderstood than salvation. I'm sure there are plenty of other concepts that just get the living spirit beaten out of them, robbed of meaning and stripped of their significance. But, from almost every encounter I've had with unchurched folks, salvation tends to be the most rejected of them all.
Alright, so, people get confused or don't care to understand salvation like I do. So what? I think it's more than a so what. It's a real, pertinent matter that affects quality of life, which is really just focused on the individual, and quality of society, which does extend beyond the individual but remains limited in its scope. Here are some reasons why.
I got somewhat lost in this because I am in a transitional place where I am trying to really get grounded in my life and move to a place where I am doing God's work. Waiting for tomorrow and letting people live out the rest of their daily demise without speaking up for Christ is just cowardice. I so rarely feel the opportune moments, the kairos, but, truth be told, I so rarely put myself in a place to feel whether a door is ready to open or not that I'm not doing what I know in my heart and spirit needs to be done.
Lord, increase my faith and courage that I may love you as Christ loved you. Open and heal my fearful soul that it will glorify you by reaching to the lives of others without reservation but will transparently and wholly give to others what you have given to me. I know that giving creates a greater capacity to give, so, Lord, let me give what you need me to give. Whether its time, love, coats, words of knowledge, money or encouragement, let me know what your will is and move into a place of powerful humility. Praise be to Jesus Christ, Yahweh and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In all of my experience with Christianity, no other single word has been so misunderstood than salvation. I'm sure there are plenty of other concepts that just get the living spirit beaten out of them, robbed of meaning and stripped of their significance. But, from almost every encounter I've had with unchurched folks, salvation tends to be the most rejected of them all.
Alright, so, people get confused or don't care to understand salvation like I do. So what? I think it's more than a so what. It's a real, pertinent matter that affects quality of life, which is really just focused on the individual, and quality of society, which does extend beyond the individual but remains limited in its scope. Here are some reasons why.
- Salvation is about protection. This is far and away the most important truth. One of the fundamental questions in philosophy rests on this premise that one must decide whether they are the most powerful being in the universe or they are not and there is at least one or more more powerful beings in the universe. Now, most people would defer to the latter, but there are circles of thought which prove otherwise.
If you think you are the most powerful being in the universe, I have to defer to God on that logic because only power can shake that deception and even in that case, deception may persist. On the other hand, someone who acknowledges a higher power at least leaves room for discussion. They acknowledge something greater than themselves. That is often a matter of identifying what they subscribe their fears and hopes to and working from there.
In either case, salvation addresses the issue of protection. When Jesus offers salvation, he offers protection from God and our judgment for sins as well as the attack of the enemy in our daily lives. Many people who do not accept salvation basically reject the notion on the grounds that they don't need protection. They think:- there is really nothing to be afraid of
- they can take care of themselves or
- nothing can be done about it anyway.
In each of these cases there are specific responses that can deliberately and logically respond. But, I don't want to apply logic, I want to apply love. What is is about this person that they live in fear, the opposite of love, which prevents them from accepting there is something to fear. Is it because the illusion thre is nothing to fear less frightening than the reality itself? Or in the second case, is the idea of one being incapable of dealing with something too much to handle? Lastly, does resigning oneself to powerlessness justify it in their minds because they are a victim?
There are a great many responses, lies in reality, people try to offer in defense of rejecting salvation, but, many of these are based on temporal perspectives. We all need protection. There are forces, visible and invisible, we have no control over. But, in accepting that God has control over them and He is willing to guard us, we are able to find safety from these powers. As clever as many of today's "secular" thinkers are, it's never very stylish to realize one day that you are in the middle of a field with no one around, completely vulnerable, waiting for attack. That's one of the most horrible feelings I can think of. - Salvation is not lip-service. Salvation is a matter of actually living in such a way that one honors their beliefs. In another frame of reference, we have to line up with what God says about his ways in order for Him to protect us. In the gospels, Christ talks about people who know his name but who will not be accepted into the Kingdom. I don't want to be one of these people rejected for loving God with my lips and my lips alone. This means feeding the poor, being the last, willfully and joyfully praising God in all things, loving the unlovable, preaching the good news to the poor. Not a single one of these things is popular, easy or normal in today's world. We have to go out of our way to find Jesus in our lives, but, by going out of our way, we begin to get close to where the spirit is. He isn't in the middle of the TV most of the time. Why do you think sister Teresa was considered such a powerful force even though almost nothing she did made television.
If it's public, it's often not something God is paying attention to. We need to help those in shame, in guilt, in pain, in lost, deceived places. How many people want those things to be exposed? How many people want to be ridiculed and rejected? Society frowns upon such things. It's the very nature of social life. People generally only meet to deals with needs and desires. Typically, common gatherings of needs and desires are exchanges between different groups. People in need, like the needs mentioned above, don't have anything to give, so, society, in the "social" sense, isn't interested in them. They require giving without expecting anything in return. Society, in its most basic tendency, aims to give in expecting a comparable or superior return to the thing given, whether it's time, energy, thought, entertainment, etc.
Lip service is often the way of most society, the church being no exception. So, I have to ask myself, what do I have to do in order to really love? In my mind I think of things that require me getting in people's lives. Look at Jesus, he went to people's houses, ate with them, spent time with them, told stories, listened, shared. They built experiences together. Jesus was invasive. I want to be invasive with my love because most people will not show you their woundedness unless you make it known that you want to help. At best, I want to do as Christ called me to do in Matthew 28:18-20. And I can't make any disciples without first teaching what Christ did worthy of learning. The only way to teach what Christ did is to do it. The didactic of Christ is action. Lip-service is possibly the greatest deception in all of Christianity and I can no longer pretend that this hypocrisy in my life is justifiable. He will not protect us if we don't do as he did, because that is the earmark of someone who is not one of his brothers.
I got somewhat lost in this because I am in a transitional place where I am trying to really get grounded in my life and move to a place where I am doing God's work. Waiting for tomorrow and letting people live out the rest of their daily demise without speaking up for Christ is just cowardice. I so rarely feel the opportune moments, the kairos, but, truth be told, I so rarely put myself in a place to feel whether a door is ready to open or not that I'm not doing what I know in my heart and spirit needs to be done.
Lord, increase my faith and courage that I may love you as Christ loved you. Open and heal my fearful soul that it will glorify you by reaching to the lives of others without reservation but will transparently and wholly give to others what you have given to me. I know that giving creates a greater capacity to give, so, Lord, let me give what you need me to give. Whether its time, love, coats, words of knowledge, money or encouragement, let me know what your will is and move into a place of powerful humility. Praise be to Jesus Christ, Yahweh and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Last Tuesday Kerri and I had the distinct privilege of being able to make it to one of Barbie's TNT events. We were glad to see her first Dallas representation and heard and saw some great things. One thing that stuck out was a picture she had shown before, but, about which she showed us something new.
During a conference someone had taken photos trying to capture pictures of orbs. This one particular photo she had showed one. Yet, upon closer examination, and zooming in, it showed what appears to be the outline of a person in worship. Early this morning, around 3am, I woke up from a dream. After waking, I began thinking of this image and it occurred to me that perhaps the person in the orb was someone, not an angel, who was praying in the spirit. God translated their spirit to the conference for a moment, and then returned them back to their actual place and time.
I have had moments in prayer or worship where I would be somewhere else momentarily then back in my normal space-time location. These moments always eluded me as to their nature, but it seems that this instantaneous translation might be a key to understanding what's going on.
It makes sense. The Holy Spirit goes where faith is present. Faith is a substance (Hebrews 11) and worshipers worshiping in truth and spirit would possess faith. Faith is to the Holy Spirit as oxygen is to the human being: necessary and present in times of presence. In this sense, the Holy Spirit goes where their is faith. Likewise, in worship, the Holy Spirit may seek to provide people a glimpse, and a brief touch, of the events going on in a different place, a conference, a worship service, a sermon. In those moments, people could easily be translated from one place, to the Holy Spirit's gathering, then back to their proper place.
I strongly believe there is something along these lines that God showed me about how and why people show up in spirit at a place, then disappear. That would be a major way to explain orbs. People peeking into a space=time from another place.
During a conference someone had taken photos trying to capture pictures of orbs. This one particular photo she had showed one. Yet, upon closer examination, and zooming in, it showed what appears to be the outline of a person in worship. Early this morning, around 3am, I woke up from a dream. After waking, I began thinking of this image and it occurred to me that perhaps the person in the orb was someone, not an angel, who was praying in the spirit. God translated their spirit to the conference for a moment, and then returned them back to their actual place and time.
I have had moments in prayer or worship where I would be somewhere else momentarily then back in my normal space-time location. These moments always eluded me as to their nature, but it seems that this instantaneous translation might be a key to understanding what's going on.
It makes sense. The Holy Spirit goes where faith is present. Faith is a substance (Hebrews 11) and worshipers worshiping in truth and spirit would possess faith. Faith is to the Holy Spirit as oxygen is to the human being: necessary and present in times of presence. In this sense, the Holy Spirit goes where their is faith. Likewise, in worship, the Holy Spirit may seek to provide people a glimpse, and a brief touch, of the events going on in a different place, a conference, a worship service, a sermon. In those moments, people could easily be translated from one place, to the Holy Spirit's gathering, then back to their proper place.
I strongly believe there is something along these lines that God showed me about how and why people show up in spirit at a place, then disappear. That would be a major way to explain orbs. People peeking into a space=time from another place.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Two interesting thoughts have come to mind of late: 1) the idea of order and authority and 2) consciousness and genius.
Order and Authority
Over the past 6 months I have had a driving desire to create order in my life. If you know me at all, order, or at least, organization, is not one of my hallmark traits. Well, that is changing, and, it's changing in a big way. When we moved into our current house we had stuff that had been in boxes since we moved to Dallas that, before that, had been in boxes from our house in Baton Rouge that, before that...well, you get the drift.
After having grown tired of not being able to find things and just getting fed up with clutter, I began to sort through paper, stuff folders, label, filter, file...you got, organize. In this process, and here's the heart of this post, I began to see how much easier certain aspects of life could be. Finding paperwork was not a struggle. Keeping things orderly was much easier. Yet, deeper than that, I realized that I found a growing awareness of control over the affairs of my life.
This awareness led me to connect the notion that we are only able to get promoted to the next level once we have mastered our current level. This sounds much less profound out of context than it is for me while I'm realizing it. Translating this to the spiritual arena, I am creating order in my life. Once I reach the level of order I am meant to have in my life, I will then be ready to move to the next level where I shall find new things that have to be ordered. Yet, in this process, I am learning the importance of order and maintaining order.
To me this is an awesome realization because I connect the idea of kosmos, as Gregory Vlastos discusses it, as being an active force. In Scripture, an amazing act of God was the creation and sustaining of order. Paul commends his audience in Colossians 2:5 saying, "I delight to see how orderly you are". In this sense, Paul is referring to the act of arranging in order. It is an act of establishment.
Perhaps that is the deep-seated joy I feel, a settling, a call to rest. Granted, order is not only something that must be established, but it must also be maintained regularly. Until this point in my life I only saw order as a moment in time, and, in a way, there is no continuous order. But now, I see order and an ongoing necessity, and this has helped to understand how believers must actively establish their authority over their lives. Unless this authority, this order, is constantly maintained our blessing becomes a curse. Without exercising the authority God calls of those he blesses, we can easily become overwhelmed by his provision and lose the right to continue growing in our calling.
I thank God for blessing, for the transfer of his wealth, but I thank God more so for the ability and wisdom to know how to receive and possess the blessing he pours out. Without improvements to my character, to my soul, I could never truly receive what he has called me to do because I would not be demonstrating his active/act of order. We are called to grow in our understanding of God and, in this case, I believe the only way I could fully appreciate God's mystery of order was to learn it firsthand.
Consciousness and Genius
I often marvel at people like Mozart who could hear a symphony and identify the most minute of misplayed notes amongst a sea of music without err or effort. People like Shakespeare whose rhapsodic use of language is unlike any others that has come since in the English language...or Van Gogh, whose art transcends the boundaries of two dimensions, colors and a canvas. These creators, these innovators have always possessed an air of otherworldliness, superhuman powers and amazing abilities for me.
That people such as these exist and do remarkable, often incomprehensible, things is hardly groundbreaking. But, understanding what it is like to be them, to glimpse through their minds for just a moment, that would be profound, life-altering and magnificent. One aspect of the works and lives of these men is captured in the abnormal degree of presence they possess in their works. They can command and communicate through their works such a high degree of depth and reality that it simply escapes the reach of comparison when we try to hold other, similar works next to them.
How do they do it? Remember entire scores for symphonies, or, like Joyce spouting Shakespeare to a copy to avoid getting a ticket, recall entire chapters of writing without effort...how do they do that? Part of it is engrossment and the degree of awareness these men possess. You cannot create or express such detail in work unless you know it is there. To be aware of the depth and magnitude of detail these works often embody is not normal. Indeed, that is a major key in knowing how to grasp what these men and women are doing. They see more than others so they can say and show more than others. That major realization helped me to get a grip on what lies at the heart of seeing like a genius.
But, what in the world does awareness have to do with genius? Unless I can begin to cultivate an increasing degree of awareness I will never grow closer to understanding how the greatest of great minds grasp things. Yet, in all this I have to constantly know, some people can simply do things others will never be able to. I can never play basketball like Michael Jordan or speak 24 languages like Marx's mentor. I can, however, grow in these areas...and knowing that greater awareness makes for greater realization is one of the most important things I can understand in that process.
Ordinary people can do this...at least they can grow in their awareness. For example, take people who are caught in life-threatening situations, a robbery, or, life-changing situations, a wedding. Often times people remember every detail of these events. Colors are brighter, smells become permanently planted in the brain, certain phrases spoken in these moments can be perfectly recalled years later. This altered state of consciousness is nothing new, but it is something most people do not tap into on a regular basis. That is what training is for.
Children can often tap into these trancelike states easily. Baby Einstein movies, Disney movies, certain music, sights and sounds enrapture children and completely absorb them. These things embrace their young minds and brains. Likewise, we too can becomes completely absorbed in experiences, but we have to regress to a place where we can move into that impressionable state. Geniuses, returning to the point at hand, often access this realm more easily because their abilities afford them the luxury of not having to contend with day-to-day life.
In fact, being abnormal in this respect often cultivates the ability to live on the cusp of all-consuming consciousness and ordinary consciousness. Since many geniuses are prodigious and have their way of life embraced early on, the membranes of consciousness typically reserved for childhood are not strengthened as they are in others and their youthful ability to vacillate between creativity and normalcy remains strong as long as they continue to develop and use their abilities.
Since the impediments of normal development are often pardoned as being unnecessary for these children they are given sort of a free reign in this arena. With the rest of us, however, we have to unlearn ourselves. We have to push, prod and stretch the parts of ourselves that have become rigid, calloused, inflexible. Sometimes these are ideas or beliefs, such as, "I can't possibly ever understand art like Picasso." At other times, we have to force ourselves into new areas, like finding that thing which totally engrosses us. It may not be easy, and will take us through many things, but, when we do find it, will speak to us like nothing else has, like a voice heard long ago, whispering, "I'm glad to see you, welcome home." We can all grow to where we were and, in the process, open the door to where we're supposed to go.
I am firmly convinced that every single person has a unique purpose for being alive. That is part of God's plan. It requires us to realize we need others at all times, but to also realize others need us as well. With this balance in mind, I see that unique purpose, that genius of the individual, as being a source of great power. We can see that we have some unique and special thing to offer the world. We, in a way, are geniuses of ourselves. As such, we have an awareness, a giftedness that no one else can possibly have. That is what we have to contribute to the world in a way no Mozart or Einstein could ever match. Our calling is the power of our genius.
The most challenging obstacle is to not get caught up in the trap of comparing our calling with other's calling. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 12. We are each called for a special purpose and trying to be something we are not called to be not only prevents us from achieving God's will for us, it also prevents others from achieving their destiny because you're out there trying to their job and not doing your own. So, being aware of your call allows God's kingdom to grow even faster because we are working with others in way that not only allows other's strengths to shine, but, in the process, allows ours to grow with theirs in a way nothing else can come close to matching.
Order and Authority
Over the past 6 months I have had a driving desire to create order in my life. If you know me at all, order, or at least, organization, is not one of my hallmark traits. Well, that is changing, and, it's changing in a big way. When we moved into our current house we had stuff that had been in boxes since we moved to Dallas that, before that, had been in boxes from our house in Baton Rouge that, before that...well, you get the drift.
After having grown tired of not being able to find things and just getting fed up with clutter, I began to sort through paper, stuff folders, label, filter, file...you got, organize. In this process, and here's the heart of this post, I began to see how much easier certain aspects of life could be. Finding paperwork was not a struggle. Keeping things orderly was much easier. Yet, deeper than that, I realized that I found a growing awareness of control over the affairs of my life.
This awareness led me to connect the notion that we are only able to get promoted to the next level once we have mastered our current level. This sounds much less profound out of context than it is for me while I'm realizing it. Translating this to the spiritual arena, I am creating order in my life. Once I reach the level of order I am meant to have in my life, I will then be ready to move to the next level where I shall find new things that have to be ordered. Yet, in this process, I am learning the importance of order and maintaining order.
To me this is an awesome realization because I connect the idea of kosmos, as Gregory Vlastos discusses it, as being an active force. In Scripture, an amazing act of God was the creation and sustaining of order. Paul commends his audience in Colossians 2:5 saying, "I delight to see how orderly you are". In this sense, Paul is referring to the act of arranging in order. It is an act of establishment.
Perhaps that is the deep-seated joy I feel, a settling, a call to rest. Granted, order is not only something that must be established, but it must also be maintained regularly. Until this point in my life I only saw order as a moment in time, and, in a way, there is no continuous order. But now, I see order and an ongoing necessity, and this has helped to understand how believers must actively establish their authority over their lives. Unless this authority, this order, is constantly maintained our blessing becomes a curse. Without exercising the authority God calls of those he blesses, we can easily become overwhelmed by his provision and lose the right to continue growing in our calling.
I thank God for blessing, for the transfer of his wealth, but I thank God more so for the ability and wisdom to know how to receive and possess the blessing he pours out. Without improvements to my character, to my soul, I could never truly receive what he has called me to do because I would not be demonstrating his active/act of order. We are called to grow in our understanding of God and, in this case, I believe the only way I could fully appreciate God's mystery of order was to learn it firsthand.
Consciousness and Genius
I often marvel at people like Mozart who could hear a symphony and identify the most minute of misplayed notes amongst a sea of music without err or effort. People like Shakespeare whose rhapsodic use of language is unlike any others that has come since in the English language...or Van Gogh, whose art transcends the boundaries of two dimensions, colors and a canvas. These creators, these innovators have always possessed an air of otherworldliness, superhuman powers and amazing abilities for me.
That people such as these exist and do remarkable, often incomprehensible, things is hardly groundbreaking. But, understanding what it is like to be them, to glimpse through their minds for just a moment, that would be profound, life-altering and magnificent. One aspect of the works and lives of these men is captured in the abnormal degree of presence they possess in their works. They can command and communicate through their works such a high degree of depth and reality that it simply escapes the reach of comparison when we try to hold other, similar works next to them.
How do they do it? Remember entire scores for symphonies, or, like Joyce spouting Shakespeare to a copy to avoid getting a ticket, recall entire chapters of writing without effort...how do they do that? Part of it is engrossment and the degree of awareness these men possess. You cannot create or express such detail in work unless you know it is there. To be aware of the depth and magnitude of detail these works often embody is not normal. Indeed, that is a major key in knowing how to grasp what these men and women are doing. They see more than others so they can say and show more than others. That major realization helped me to get a grip on what lies at the heart of seeing like a genius.
But, what in the world does awareness have to do with genius? Unless I can begin to cultivate an increasing degree of awareness I will never grow closer to understanding how the greatest of great minds grasp things. Yet, in all this I have to constantly know, some people can simply do things others will never be able to. I can never play basketball like Michael Jordan or speak 24 languages like Marx's mentor. I can, however, grow in these areas...and knowing that greater awareness makes for greater realization is one of the most important things I can understand in that process.
Ordinary people can do this...at least they can grow in their awareness. For example, take people who are caught in life-threatening situations, a robbery, or, life-changing situations, a wedding. Often times people remember every detail of these events. Colors are brighter, smells become permanently planted in the brain, certain phrases spoken in these moments can be perfectly recalled years later. This altered state of consciousness is nothing new, but it is something most people do not tap into on a regular basis. That is what training is for.
Children can often tap into these trancelike states easily. Baby Einstein movies, Disney movies, certain music, sights and sounds enrapture children and completely absorb them. These things embrace their young minds and brains. Likewise, we too can becomes completely absorbed in experiences, but we have to regress to a place where we can move into that impressionable state. Geniuses, returning to the point at hand, often access this realm more easily because their abilities afford them the luxury of not having to contend with day-to-day life.
In fact, being abnormal in this respect often cultivates the ability to live on the cusp of all-consuming consciousness and ordinary consciousness. Since many geniuses are prodigious and have their way of life embraced early on, the membranes of consciousness typically reserved for childhood are not strengthened as they are in others and their youthful ability to vacillate between creativity and normalcy remains strong as long as they continue to develop and use their abilities.
Since the impediments of normal development are often pardoned as being unnecessary for these children they are given sort of a free reign in this arena. With the rest of us, however, we have to unlearn ourselves. We have to push, prod and stretch the parts of ourselves that have become rigid, calloused, inflexible. Sometimes these are ideas or beliefs, such as, "I can't possibly ever understand art like Picasso." At other times, we have to force ourselves into new areas, like finding that thing which totally engrosses us. It may not be easy, and will take us through many things, but, when we do find it, will speak to us like nothing else has, like a voice heard long ago, whispering, "I'm glad to see you, welcome home." We can all grow to where we were and, in the process, open the door to where we're supposed to go.
I am firmly convinced that every single person has a unique purpose for being alive. That is part of God's plan. It requires us to realize we need others at all times, but to also realize others need us as well. With this balance in mind, I see that unique purpose, that genius of the individual, as being a source of great power. We can see that we have some unique and special thing to offer the world. We, in a way, are geniuses of ourselves. As such, we have an awareness, a giftedness that no one else can possibly have. That is what we have to contribute to the world in a way no Mozart or Einstein could ever match. Our calling is the power of our genius.
The most challenging obstacle is to not get caught up in the trap of comparing our calling with other's calling. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 12. We are each called for a special purpose and trying to be something we are not called to be not only prevents us from achieving God's will for us, it also prevents others from achieving their destiny because you're out there trying to their job and not doing your own. So, being aware of your call allows God's kingdom to grow even faster because we are working with others in way that not only allows other's strengths to shine, but, in the process, allows ours to grow with theirs in a way nothing else can come close to matching.
Monday, April 02, 2007
At the new year I began one of my mid-term goals: pursuit of MCSD certification. I managed to get about 15 books for .NET 2.0 because it's being ousted by the 3.0 package and Vista. Nonetheless, I need to get my C# skills down before I worry about the new implementations offered by 3.0. At any rate, I wrapped up my first 3 month series of readings from John Sharp's C# 2005 Step by Step. I learned a great deal and am somewhat capable now I can write small, desktop apps with some basic functionality. Enough to develop light tools for helping at work with analysis of different files. Overall, I am happy to have finished stage one. Only 11 more to go and then I think I'll be ready to give the MSCD tests a shot. Right now I'm working on Developing Windows-Based Applications with Microsft Visual C#.NET. Seemed like a natural progression. I don't know enough about ASP.NET to move into web-based apps and I certainly am missing details for dealing with .xml-web-based applications beyond that. With that in mind, I still believe that after that, I want to try and shoot for the MCPD. But, first, I've got to be able to crawl!
On another area of interest, I've been thinking about something that, at least in my gut, bothers me about what it might imply, but, trusting God, will explore anyway. Last week it occurred to me, after listening to a talk in which C. S. Lewis' concept of the four loves was mentioned, it popped into my head that love, as a notion, ties much more closely with the body than we often think. I specifically started thinking about love and emotions. When people "feel" love, they don't feel love in their toe. They often feel it in their chest or heart region. And thoughts. When we refer to thoughts, again, we don't refer to our toes when identifying where thoughts occur.
Where I'm going with this is that many of the soul activities we refer to have correlations with specific regions of the body. Now, one thought is that we might be feeling partial expressions of the true emotion. For instance, love, in its full form, might be felt throughout the entire body. Mystics talk about the mind encompassing their entire being, knowing everything in their body. These larger than life experiences are probably more akin to the types of full-life use of the soul we were meant to have. However, most people live fractions of what they are capable of, and this explains why only regions of the body can be isolated manifestations of these soul experiences. I just find it curious as to why we feel certain emotions in certain regions and only certain regions.
On another area of interest, I've been thinking about something that, at least in my gut, bothers me about what it might imply, but, trusting God, will explore anyway. Last week it occurred to me, after listening to a talk in which C. S. Lewis' concept of the four loves was mentioned, it popped into my head that love, as a notion, ties much more closely with the body than we often think. I specifically started thinking about love and emotions. When people "feel" love, they don't feel love in their toe. They often feel it in their chest or heart region. And thoughts. When we refer to thoughts, again, we don't refer to our toes when identifying where thoughts occur.
Where I'm going with this is that many of the soul activities we refer to have correlations with specific regions of the body. Now, one thought is that we might be feeling partial expressions of the true emotion. For instance, love, in its full form, might be felt throughout the entire body. Mystics talk about the mind encompassing their entire being, knowing everything in their body. These larger than life experiences are probably more akin to the types of full-life use of the soul we were meant to have. However, most people live fractions of what they are capable of, and this explains why only regions of the body can be isolated manifestations of these soul experiences. I just find it curious as to why we feel certain emotions in certain regions and only certain regions.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Not much...and a lot...going on at the same time. Two big projects at work, back to back nonetheless, got me pretty whipped over the past two weeks. The nice thing is that the hard work allowed me to get Thursday and Friday off this weekend, so, in the end, a nice four day weekend. What a great treat.
My parents are in town for the weekend as well. We have already worked on the yard, from the outside in. At the moment, my dad's working on Liam's room making it a nice shade of sky blue. Also, we're going to add some lights in the master bedroom. Whoever designed the house only put a single overhead cannister for the main source of light. One way to do it. Perhaps they were of the philosophy that lamps are a good thing.
Looks like it'll be a productive weekend.
On the thinking side of things, I have a few little things that have popped into my head. After reading Barbie's article on the Faith Realm it came clear that the distinction between faith and belief makes sense only if you look at it in the light of action. Believing, from what I noticed today, should be drawn from our lives. Our beliefs are truly manifest in how we live our lives. If we don't do what we say we believe, we don't really believe it. Otherwise, beliefs are really nothing more than ideas we like to talk about. For me, the clarification that belief, with an emphasis on action, is novel. Before it was an abstract truth from which we associate action. Yet, to truly and rightly judge one's beliefs, one can only study actions...not vice versa.
I guess one of the dangers here would be to suggest a moral judgement system based on the belief grounded solely in action. Reason being that this eliminates the possibility of growth. This assumes that a snapshot of action or behaviour would intimate future actions for the basis for gauging beliefs, but I'm simply trying to indicate, without getting too far off base, that the future is still the realm of the unknowable--without revelation. Since this is not a Newtonian billiard ball universe, beliefs based on behavior do not include the realm of faith and the fact that we can believe things and act accordingly though the reasons for those things are not yet manifest. I guess, after thinking about it a little, you could still suggest that beliefs can be help (and actions performed on those grounds) though no cause, other than faith, supports those beliefs. The beliefs are still validated by action...it's more the causal justification, verifiable evidence, such as the things which are believed in, would be lacking.
Here is where the dynamic of prophecy and belief becomes challenging. Only the invisible poses this problem. If we belief things which we can justify with experience or proof, then we are capable of demonstrating the validity of our beliefs. Yet, God wants us to act without proof. For that, we need belief. In this vein of thought, prophecy, at least in the sense of foretold events, requires action without proof. That is the only major dynamic that creates a tension with regards to faith in action as far as I can see.
Truth and language.
I've touched on this before, but don't think I've ever clearly pointed out this note. Truth and language are so closely connected that without one, the other can't exist. In the case of truth, language is the medium through which truth can be manifest. A way to point this out is to focus on a case where there is not language. In a forest a man who has never had contact with another person knows nothing of falsehood because he has never been lied to. Trees don't lie. They do not misrepresent themselves. Animals don't lie. Nature has nothing false about it. Without ever meeting another person, falsehood could never be introduced into our mythical man's mind.
Putting this man into social life with other people, yet devoid of language, the man still has nothing to convey falsehood. Yet, with communication, with common communication, come the potential for lies. It's clear that language and truth have such a common bond that one rests on the other as a foundation. On a side note, the fact that Scripture talks about the Word as the formative basis for creation...think John 1...suggests that Jesus, i.e., the Word, the Truth, has an inherent bond much as is revealed by the mythical man example. Without Christ, without the Word, no Truth can be known.
I want to delve into the idea of language and truth after I review Kent's talks more in depth, but I've got to transcribe those and don't feel like it tonight.
My parents are in town for the weekend as well. We have already worked on the yard, from the outside in. At the moment, my dad's working on Liam's room making it a nice shade of sky blue. Also, we're going to add some lights in the master bedroom. Whoever designed the house only put a single overhead cannister for the main source of light. One way to do it. Perhaps they were of the philosophy that lamps are a good thing.
Looks like it'll be a productive weekend.
On the thinking side of things, I have a few little things that have popped into my head. After reading Barbie's article on the Faith Realm it came clear that the distinction between faith and belief makes sense only if you look at it in the light of action. Believing, from what I noticed today, should be drawn from our lives. Our beliefs are truly manifest in how we live our lives. If we don't do what we say we believe, we don't really believe it. Otherwise, beliefs are really nothing more than ideas we like to talk about. For me, the clarification that belief, with an emphasis on action, is novel. Before it was an abstract truth from which we associate action. Yet, to truly and rightly judge one's beliefs, one can only study actions...not vice versa.
I guess one of the dangers here would be to suggest a moral judgement system based on the belief grounded solely in action. Reason being that this eliminates the possibility of growth. This assumes that a snapshot of action or behaviour would intimate future actions for the basis for gauging beliefs, but I'm simply trying to indicate, without getting too far off base, that the future is still the realm of the unknowable--without revelation. Since this is not a Newtonian billiard ball universe, beliefs based on behavior do not include the realm of faith and the fact that we can believe things and act accordingly though the reasons for those things are not yet manifest. I guess, after thinking about it a little, you could still suggest that beliefs can be help (and actions performed on those grounds) though no cause, other than faith, supports those beliefs. The beliefs are still validated by action...it's more the causal justification, verifiable evidence, such as the things which are believed in, would be lacking.
Here is where the dynamic of prophecy and belief becomes challenging. Only the invisible poses this problem. If we belief things which we can justify with experience or proof, then we are capable of demonstrating the validity of our beliefs. Yet, God wants us to act without proof. For that, we need belief. In this vein of thought, prophecy, at least in the sense of foretold events, requires action without proof. That is the only major dynamic that creates a tension with regards to faith in action as far as I can see.
Truth and language.
I've touched on this before, but don't think I've ever clearly pointed out this note. Truth and language are so closely connected that without one, the other can't exist. In the case of truth, language is the medium through which truth can be manifest. A way to point this out is to focus on a case where there is not language. In a forest a man who has never had contact with another person knows nothing of falsehood because he has never been lied to. Trees don't lie. They do not misrepresent themselves. Animals don't lie. Nature has nothing false about it. Without ever meeting another person, falsehood could never be introduced into our mythical man's mind.
Putting this man into social life with other people, yet devoid of language, the man still has nothing to convey falsehood. Yet, with communication, with common communication, come the potential for lies. It's clear that language and truth have such a common bond that one rests on the other as a foundation. On a side note, the fact that Scripture talks about the Word as the formative basis for creation...think John 1...suggests that Jesus, i.e., the Word, the Truth, has an inherent bond much as is revealed by the mythical man example. Without Christ, without the Word, no Truth can be known.
I want to delve into the idea of language and truth after I review Kent's talks more in depth, but I've got to transcribe those and don't feel like it tonight.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Frustration. That's generally the theme of this post.
I could write the grocery list of things that easily fall under this category, but, more pervasive is the general fact that much of my life lends to this emotion right now. The most recent event that comes to mind was from service this morning. Since we have begun to go to RBFC Kerri has been able to become involved in a great many things: Bible study, community group, mother's day out, even the latest addition a basic service ministry handing out fliers. Nothing barn-burning there, but involvement. Ironically, for the first time in our marriage, the tables are turned. Near the time of Page's birth, Kerri felt like the caged animal. A baby, no time or energy to go anywhere and I was off gallivanting around Baton Rouge and Texas doing things with different church groups and organizations.
Well, three years later, my life consists of work and time at home. I might make it to church 3 times a one on a good month when kids aren't sick, I'm not completely dead from work or some other off-the-wall scenario hasn't popped up. So, having gone from learning of the great things God is up to with revelatory ministries for the first time to being a corporate slave with no spiritual connections or community has been a slap in the face.
Of course, I hear God speaking to me in all this. Kerri tells me encouraging things at my worst moments when I actually bark about what's going on. At times, God talks to me, but overall, I am either ignoring him (still mad at the way things are) or just plain to far away to hear what he's saying. The worst thing of all is that fact that I know what's going on and am too lazy and apathetic to stop my self-indulgent pity and turn my heart and soul towards him. Lord, please forgive me for my rejection of the circumstances into which you have placed me and my family. I admit I have sinned and fallen short of the calling you have personally placed in my heart and spirit.
Of particular frustration this morning was a small snippet about a Bible-study beginning tomorrow night on Revelation. I thought, and quickly grew excited, about the prospect of seeing something revelatory spring up in the church with which I could get involved. Finally, an opening. I noted it to Kerri after she finished her Connecting Points ministry and went on. On the way home, I asked her about and she asked if I thought she should go. I said, "No, I was planning on going." At this point, she pointed out that it was a women's study. I just shook my head in, you guessed it, frustration. One more thing I thought might break my dark night, rejected.
I don't know what it is that God's trying to get across to me that prolongs this dark night. I have ceased my striving in areas once bordering on idolatry. There are things I have not completed, some of my small tasks. Blogging the thoughts he gives me during Sunday service since many of them make me feel inadequate (the Ephesians book and the dream service in the neighborhood). Yet, I often wonder, like I'm sure many people do, how many of these "ideas" are really of him and how many are of my own invention? Am I really still striving, just in a new way?
Yesterday I was thinking about how, at times, I want to pray and be someone who dances around the house, hands raised, filled with exaltation and free of care what people think. But, it's not about other's opinions, it's about a form of expression that doesn't glorify God the way I feel he deserves honor. Sure, I could easily get lost in thinking that my emphasis here is on my own inferiority and my unwillingness to do what I think is really about myself, but right now, in my life, God isn't the king and more discipline, more gritting my teeth doesn't seem like the answer. To me, that's all just striving.
I'm not trying to be smart about my love for God, because it's not brains that God wants. I'm trying to be real with him in a way that I haven't yet, and, honestly, I don't know what that is. Of course, therein lies the soil of newness...of opportunity. When we struggle and pursue God into the dark, hard places of ourselves, we can feel unproductive, hardened, dead to life because we are facing the strongholds in our life. I sincerely hope part of what is going on nowadays in my life revolves around this growth opportunity, in spite of the fact that my soul senses pointlessness and unfruitful labor.
I wonder, when reading Paul's talk of the fruit of the Spirit, how many of those fruits were present how much of the time. For instance, I think that the apostles, after the Holy Spirit filled them, were so enraptured with God's amazing presence that it was very difficult not to be joyful, patient, kind, etc. But, like so many Christians have faced before, what happens after the high wears off?
Friday, another thought stream that passed through my mind was the idea related to something I saw last week on Heroes. (Yes, I admit that I do not actually only watch the show, but eagerly anticipate each new episode. I have come out of the closet!) This past week there was an interesting conversation between one of the main characters, Petrelli, and Lindermann, an until-now-unrevealed mastermind, which explored an interested dichotomy. Below is the major excerpt I want to focus on.
The notion that happiness and meaning are mutually exclusive is not novel. However, what is presented here, partly as a way of fleshing out the divisive character through the clear use of manipulative thinking, is not directly what I find important. It just reminded me that television often has its finger on the spiritual pulse of some major, current issues. For me, this show just highlighted a question that has been long lingering in my mind related to the relationship of meaning and spiritual fulfillment.
Getting back to the question I posed, does meaning necessarily span time immemorial past and to come? And, how does this related to happiness? Or, more importantly, for the Christian, blessedness?
I often associate a life filled with the Spirit as one that is meaningful. When we are doing something that matters to God and his kingdom, we are drawn closer to him, and as an indirect consequence, filled more and more his Spirit and secondarily cultivate more of the fruit of the Spirit. But, is this true? Does meaning directly relate to the fruit of the Spirit? I guess, indirectly at least, the fruit of the Spirit is something that fills a person after they have met, accepted and grown with the Spirit.
But, this isn't always the case. Newborn Christians often have great fullness of the Spirit, then, as it may occur, go many ways. Some, as John intimated in Revelation to the Church of Ephesus, "have forsaken your first love." (Rev. 2:4) Others, get lost in life, as Christ indicated in the Parable of the Soils, "Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain". (Mk. 4:7) Neither of these cases quite feel like what I am experiencing. I feel, in some ways, closer to Christ than ever before. And, I do not yet possess the wisdom to face the issue of worldly issues choking out the Word without some fear in my spirit.
Beyond these, though, is a lack of knowledge, an emptiness when it comes to my purpose. If one were to ask me, "Why are you alive?" I would have to say, "I'm really not sure." Now, I can hear in the back of my mind people reading this thinking, he's suicidal, his life is without meaning. That's not it at all. I'm trying to say that I believe many people have a clear sense of what their lives are for. God has communicated what their purpose on earth is. For instance, Kerri has received the word, on at least a few occasions, that she is to be the mother of many. Now, she's still not clear on whether that's the spiritual mother, the physical mother, etc, but she has an idea. I, on the other hand, see all these great things, understand what is going on, and never feel called, or, when I feel called, am not presented the opportunity to join these things to which I feel connected. That is the great conflict in my life right now.
I see so many people seeking a sense of permanent change in their lives. People want to become someone else. They desire to be different from before. Whether driven by displeasure with self or the pursuit of more (really closely related if you ask me), people are often motivated by unhappiness to action. If not unhappiness, necessity for certain. So, either unhappiness or necessity cause people to act.
I remember a long time ago, I once stumbled on this basic thought and saw all physical action as a desire for change. For instance, why would a person need to do anything if nothing needed to be changed? They wouldn't. At that point, only desire would motivate action. Yet, desire is rooted in a sense of a need for completeness to resolve the incompleteness. So, in the end, even arbitrary desires are rooted in a need to change the incomplete into the complete. This little loop of logic was interesting but really yielded no clear conclusions as to behavior or activity based on this insight.
So, I looked at it again, this time a little differently, to see that this basic idea coincides with unhappiness as a motivation for action, but did not take into account necessity. People often understand that the pursuit of happiness is a powerful motivator, but, equally as powerful, and often less intentionally focused on, is the truth that necessity is a tremendous force in life. In truth, most of my life is an exercise in dealing with necessity. I paused when selecting the word dealing because coping seems more apropos, but that touches the heart of the issue. What is it about necessity that makes it such a tyrannical force?
Well, part of it is the fact that necessity is often something which requires submission. Most people don't enjoy being humbled and necessity has an utterly incomparable way of doing just that. Indeed, I liked what I found while researching the Greek for the kairos/chronos etymology in mythology. Chronos is often considered akin to necessity and the best verses I noted related to that said,
"Prometheus: But Khronos (Time), as he grows older, teaches everything.
Hermes: Khronos (Time) has not taught you self-control or prudence - yet." - Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 982
I sensed, when I read this, that the lessons that Chronos (time) teaches are things which cannot be avoided, no matter how long we run, because, in the end, they must be learned. Necessity often passes as a double for fate, only fate is tied more closely with the concept of destiny and necessity more closely with possibility. But, between the two is the connection that fate is what will occur while necessity are the conditions required for fate to be completed. In this context, it is possible that necessity is a manner through which God guarantees our destined purpose. Against this aspect of necessity, and most particularly, the undesirable elements of character formation, we most fiercely rage.
But why? Why is it that I reject necessity? Why do I reject what changes God requires me to make on such a gradual, constant basis? It seems like grunt work, the menial transformation designed to rid the soul of ungodly characteristics. In the end, we become better because of our humiliation, but, the process is painful. The longer we hold off, the longer it takes. In my case, I just wonder what I it is I am not humble enough about? Am I supposed to accept the necessary elements of my life without seeking better? At times, I feel that the "way things are" cannot be challenged because that is what God has ordained. Yet, if that's true, then we cannot rage against powers and principalities as we are called to? Where is the line between what is status quo and the illusion of the way things are as construed by deception which must be challenged? What must we truly challenge and what must we accept? It takes wisdom I do not yet have to identify those forces to which we must submit and to which we must offer defiance and resistance.
My lack of wisdom and discernment regarding the true necessities in my life, and, as a result, the amount of time and energy I waste pursing unnecessary things, is probably a deeper source of frustration than what I began writing about at the beginning of this blog. I am tempted to believe that what God wills is the necessary and all else must be resisted, but part of my mind suggests that we may, at times, submit to Satan's will for God's greater purposes. Now, by this I am not saying I think I need to sin to do what God wants. I am thinking more of the situation, like Christ, enduring the mockery of the Sanhedrin and the Roman guards to fulfill God's prophecies, than I am about "disobeying God to glorify him".
Nothing I've touched on today seems like an easy topic, but they're definitely things I have weighing on my heart. Of course, when I see people at church, and they ask, "How are you?", it's hard to really get into it because it's a conversation only few can have. God and I have it all the time, but that leads back to that place of solitude. As he highlighted to me this morning, for whatever reason, community is essential to Christian life and survival. Now, what is it that I have to do in order to find what I need? Why do my necessities elude me Lord? Even in pursuit of you I feel even more strained, longing, seeing more of your glory, but unable to touch you. Such a great burden to desire God will all my heart but have so little of him in my life.
I could write the grocery list of things that easily fall under this category, but, more pervasive is the general fact that much of my life lends to this emotion right now. The most recent event that comes to mind was from service this morning. Since we have begun to go to RBFC Kerri has been able to become involved in a great many things: Bible study, community group, mother's day out, even the latest addition a basic service ministry handing out fliers. Nothing barn-burning there, but involvement. Ironically, for the first time in our marriage, the tables are turned. Near the time of Page's birth, Kerri felt like the caged animal. A baby, no time or energy to go anywhere and I was off gallivanting around Baton Rouge and Texas doing things with different church groups and organizations.
Well, three years later, my life consists of work and time at home. I might make it to church 3 times a one on a good month when kids aren't sick, I'm not completely dead from work or some other off-the-wall scenario hasn't popped up. So, having gone from learning of the great things God is up to with revelatory ministries for the first time to being a corporate slave with no spiritual connections or community has been a slap in the face.
Of course, I hear God speaking to me in all this. Kerri tells me encouraging things at my worst moments when I actually bark about what's going on. At times, God talks to me, but overall, I am either ignoring him (still mad at the way things are) or just plain to far away to hear what he's saying. The worst thing of all is that fact that I know what's going on and am too lazy and apathetic to stop my self-indulgent pity and turn my heart and soul towards him. Lord, please forgive me for my rejection of the circumstances into which you have placed me and my family. I admit I have sinned and fallen short of the calling you have personally placed in my heart and spirit.
Of particular frustration this morning was a small snippet about a Bible-study beginning tomorrow night on Revelation. I thought, and quickly grew excited, about the prospect of seeing something revelatory spring up in the church with which I could get involved. Finally, an opening. I noted it to Kerri after she finished her Connecting Points ministry and went on. On the way home, I asked her about and she asked if I thought she should go. I said, "No, I was planning on going." At this point, she pointed out that it was a women's study. I just shook my head in, you guessed it, frustration. One more thing I thought might break my dark night, rejected.
I don't know what it is that God's trying to get across to me that prolongs this dark night. I have ceased my striving in areas once bordering on idolatry. There are things I have not completed, some of my small tasks. Blogging the thoughts he gives me during Sunday service since many of them make me feel inadequate (the Ephesians book and the dream service in the neighborhood). Yet, I often wonder, like I'm sure many people do, how many of these "ideas" are really of him and how many are of my own invention? Am I really still striving, just in a new way?
Yesterday I was thinking about how, at times, I want to pray and be someone who dances around the house, hands raised, filled with exaltation and free of care what people think. But, it's not about other's opinions, it's about a form of expression that doesn't glorify God the way I feel he deserves honor. Sure, I could easily get lost in thinking that my emphasis here is on my own inferiority and my unwillingness to do what I think is really about myself, but right now, in my life, God isn't the king and more discipline, more gritting my teeth doesn't seem like the answer. To me, that's all just striving.
I'm not trying to be smart about my love for God, because it's not brains that God wants. I'm trying to be real with him in a way that I haven't yet, and, honestly, I don't know what that is. Of course, therein lies the soil of newness...of opportunity. When we struggle and pursue God into the dark, hard places of ourselves, we can feel unproductive, hardened, dead to life because we are facing the strongholds in our life. I sincerely hope part of what is going on nowadays in my life revolves around this growth opportunity, in spite of the fact that my soul senses pointlessness and unfruitful labor.
I wonder, when reading Paul's talk of the fruit of the Spirit, how many of those fruits were present how much of the time. For instance, I think that the apostles, after the Holy Spirit filled them, were so enraptured with God's amazing presence that it was very difficult not to be joyful, patient, kind, etc. But, like so many Christians have faced before, what happens after the high wears off?
Friday, another thought stream that passed through my mind was the idea related to something I saw last week on Heroes. (Yes, I admit that I do not actually only watch the show, but eagerly anticipate each new episode. I have come out of the closet!) This past week there was an interesting conversation between one of the main characters, Petrelli, and Lindermann, an until-now-unrevealed mastermind, which explored an interested dichotomy. Below is the major excerpt I want to focus on.
Lindermann: "Are you happy nathan?"
Petrelli: "Not especially I guess I have a few issues that plague me."
Lindermann: "Oh, dear sorry to hear that. A time comes when a man has to ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning."
Petrelli: "I'd like to have to both."
Lindermann: "It can't be done. Two very different paths. To be truly happy a man must live absolutely in the present no thought of what's gone before and no thought of what lies ahead. But, a life of meaning, a man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsesss about the future. And my guess is you've been quite a bit of obsessing about yours this past few months."
The notion that happiness and meaning are mutually exclusive is not novel. However, what is presented here, partly as a way of fleshing out the divisive character through the clear use of manipulative thinking, is not directly what I find important. It just reminded me that television often has its finger on the spiritual pulse of some major, current issues. For me, this show just highlighted a question that has been long lingering in my mind related to the relationship of meaning and spiritual fulfillment.
Getting back to the question I posed, does meaning necessarily span time immemorial past and to come? And, how does this related to happiness? Or, more importantly, for the Christian, blessedness?
I often associate a life filled with the Spirit as one that is meaningful. When we are doing something that matters to God and his kingdom, we are drawn closer to him, and as an indirect consequence, filled more and more his Spirit and secondarily cultivate more of the fruit of the Spirit. But, is this true? Does meaning directly relate to the fruit of the Spirit? I guess, indirectly at least, the fruit of the Spirit is something that fills a person after they have met, accepted and grown with the Spirit.
But, this isn't always the case. Newborn Christians often have great fullness of the Spirit, then, as it may occur, go many ways. Some, as John intimated in Revelation to the Church of Ephesus, "have forsaken your first love." (Rev. 2:4) Others, get lost in life, as Christ indicated in the Parable of the Soils, "Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain". (Mk. 4:7) Neither of these cases quite feel like what I am experiencing. I feel, in some ways, closer to Christ than ever before. And, I do not yet possess the wisdom to face the issue of worldly issues choking out the Word without some fear in my spirit.
Beyond these, though, is a lack of knowledge, an emptiness when it comes to my purpose. If one were to ask me, "Why are you alive?" I would have to say, "I'm really not sure." Now, I can hear in the back of my mind people reading this thinking, he's suicidal, his life is without meaning. That's not it at all. I'm trying to say that I believe many people have a clear sense of what their lives are for. God has communicated what their purpose on earth is. For instance, Kerri has received the word, on at least a few occasions, that she is to be the mother of many. Now, she's still not clear on whether that's the spiritual mother, the physical mother, etc, but she has an idea. I, on the other hand, see all these great things, understand what is going on, and never feel called, or, when I feel called, am not presented the opportunity to join these things to which I feel connected. That is the great conflict in my life right now.
I see so many people seeking a sense of permanent change in their lives. People want to become someone else. They desire to be different from before. Whether driven by displeasure with self or the pursuit of more (really closely related if you ask me), people are often motivated by unhappiness to action. If not unhappiness, necessity for certain. So, either unhappiness or necessity cause people to act.
I remember a long time ago, I once stumbled on this basic thought and saw all physical action as a desire for change. For instance, why would a person need to do anything if nothing needed to be changed? They wouldn't. At that point, only desire would motivate action. Yet, desire is rooted in a sense of a need for completeness to resolve the incompleteness. So, in the end, even arbitrary desires are rooted in a need to change the incomplete into the complete. This little loop of logic was interesting but really yielded no clear conclusions as to behavior or activity based on this insight.
So, I looked at it again, this time a little differently, to see that this basic idea coincides with unhappiness as a motivation for action, but did not take into account necessity. People often understand that the pursuit of happiness is a powerful motivator, but, equally as powerful, and often less intentionally focused on, is the truth that necessity is a tremendous force in life. In truth, most of my life is an exercise in dealing with necessity. I paused when selecting the word dealing because coping seems more apropos, but that touches the heart of the issue. What is it about necessity that makes it such a tyrannical force?
Well, part of it is the fact that necessity is often something which requires submission. Most people don't enjoy being humbled and necessity has an utterly incomparable way of doing just that. Indeed, I liked what I found while researching the Greek for the kairos/chronos etymology in mythology. Chronos is often considered akin to necessity and the best verses I noted related to that said,
"Prometheus: But Khronos (Time), as he grows older, teaches everything.
Hermes: Khronos (Time) has not taught you self-control or prudence - yet." - Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 982
I sensed, when I read this, that the lessons that Chronos (time) teaches are things which cannot be avoided, no matter how long we run, because, in the end, they must be learned. Necessity often passes as a double for fate, only fate is tied more closely with the concept of destiny and necessity more closely with possibility. But, between the two is the connection that fate is what will occur while necessity are the conditions required for fate to be completed. In this context, it is possible that necessity is a manner through which God guarantees our destined purpose. Against this aspect of necessity, and most particularly, the undesirable elements of character formation, we most fiercely rage.
But why? Why is it that I reject necessity? Why do I reject what changes God requires me to make on such a gradual, constant basis? It seems like grunt work, the menial transformation designed to rid the soul of ungodly characteristics. In the end, we become better because of our humiliation, but, the process is painful. The longer we hold off, the longer it takes. In my case, I just wonder what I it is I am not humble enough about? Am I supposed to accept the necessary elements of my life without seeking better? At times, I feel that the "way things are" cannot be challenged because that is what God has ordained. Yet, if that's true, then we cannot rage against powers and principalities as we are called to? Where is the line between what is status quo and the illusion of the way things are as construed by deception which must be challenged? What must we truly challenge and what must we accept? It takes wisdom I do not yet have to identify those forces to which we must submit and to which we must offer defiance and resistance.
My lack of wisdom and discernment regarding the true necessities in my life, and, as a result, the amount of time and energy I waste pursing unnecessary things, is probably a deeper source of frustration than what I began writing about at the beginning of this blog. I am tempted to believe that what God wills is the necessary and all else must be resisted, but part of my mind suggests that we may, at times, submit to Satan's will for God's greater purposes. Now, by this I am not saying I think I need to sin to do what God wants. I am thinking more of the situation, like Christ, enduring the mockery of the Sanhedrin and the Roman guards to fulfill God's prophecies, than I am about "disobeying God to glorify him".
Nothing I've touched on today seems like an easy topic, but they're definitely things I have weighing on my heart. Of course, when I see people at church, and they ask, "How are you?", it's hard to really get into it because it's a conversation only few can have. God and I have it all the time, but that leads back to that place of solitude. As he highlighted to me this morning, for whatever reason, community is essential to Christian life and survival. Now, what is it that I have to do in order to find what I need? Why do my necessities elude me Lord? Even in pursuit of you I feel even more strained, longing, seeing more of your glory, but unable to touch you. Such a great burden to desire God will all my heart but have so little of him in my life.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
I probably won't finish this thread because it is one that has long been growing in my mind, but want to start tackling it because it came fresh today as I reflected on a few different concepts. The thread begins with the simple idea of creativity.
For a long time, I wanted to be creative like the greats who have affected history. Not that I longed for fame. It was quite the opposite. I didn't want the attention. I wanted to be possess the ability, the power to so perfectly and amazingly reflect the majesty of creation. Genius captivates in such a way that their impressions of truth seem so perfectly formed that, though we may grasp that other truths exist, the one we behold at that moment is in itself perfect.
Indeed, the maturity of genius works are the essence of their captivating nature. They are so complete in their maturity that no flaws appear. Most creative works are representations of other things. Works of genius, however, are, in and of themselves, no longer representing something else, but, because of their combination of perfection, grace and beauty, something transcending the line of representative to actual.
I contemplated many of the great works of genius trying to find a magical bow that I could use to pull once and have the eternal truths they embody in their artistic efforts unfold themselves before me, hoping for a denouement from which I could glean my own possession of their prowess and abilities. This was really a vanity, the belief that I necessarily could autopsy surpassing brilliance simply by gazing at it long enough, but in this exercise held some interesting points I picked up along the way.
While reading Julia Kristeva's Revolution on Poetic Language many years ago, I noted her use of the term authority as being quite different from anything else I had ever read. In the back of my mind I held the concepts of authority, as discussed by Jesus, but only as a backdrop for my musings. From my considerations of Kristeva's work, I noticed my idea of the creative authority changed from that of "one possessing superior knowledge" (like a subject matter expert who knew all the fine points of a topic) to something more akin to a right over, an author's right.
The language, being French, played on the concepts a little differently than it had in English as the same sunlight on foreign waters shines a slightly different color. Authority hinted at authorship, not power...as in someone possessing the right to decide the fate of matters. At that moment, I saw God's authority more like that of an author than a legislative ruler. God's Word. His creative acts. His actions. These all were creative in nature. They added to existence, whereas authority, as I had always known it, focused more on the administration and government of affairs.
Suddenly, authority was a matter of creative expression.
I saw this insight, noted it, cataloged it into my memory and moved on. Several years later I encountered the creative spirit, mainly as a theme, a quiet hint of a conversation I sensed interesting, at conferences and in book titles. Several revelatory speakers have been discussing the power of God and how it intersects with the creative realms of the arts and sciences. In fact, creativity has been connected with revelatory circles for quite some time, but has only recently gotten a reintroduction on a national level.
Now, I look back and see that there is an almost silent undercurrent not being mentioned, at least no where that I note. In new age circles and some secular humanist camps, the theme that everyone's genius lies in their uniqueness. Now, there is the age-old truism that "You're unique". This is often followed by the tit-for-tat cynic saying, "...just like everyone else." There are many efforts to undermine the power of this statement, but the most dangerous is one that recognizes the truth in it.
Many preying on the power of this realization introduce it, establish it as "hidden truth" not shown by Christianity but known to those who are sharing it. Once people are trapped, they often have already been wounded in the belief that uniqueness cannot truly be tapped within the Christian framework. Well, I won't get into that discussion tonight, but rather point out that Christianity is not only a good fit for these truths, but the source of their power. What other faith has a creative act as the first occurrence in their past?
God's call is for each person to recognize they have a truly unique purpose in the Kingdom of God, to create the most amazing work yet to be seen with the help of all others on the face of this earth. Our authority, our authorship, lies in participating with God's will and love is the only medium through which we shall create truly eternal things. The creative spirit seeks to leave the world a different, changed place; this is the essence of what I sense alternative religions are hoping to captivate and that with which they are trying to abscond unnoticed.
I hate the thought that spiritual pick pockets surround me day in and day out, but it is so easy to forget that we are called to war with love. There is nothing better for an author to do than to leave their stamp, their unique signature on their works. That ensures the authenticity of their works. Most people fear the same way. But, only love can be unique. That is the stamp of a Christian authority, unique love, a love so special that it breaks the mold. It cracks even the hardest hearts and their stony souls with its powerful manner. Dare to love in ways that none have seen and claim your authority. Claim your authorship.
In our war of love and hate, it's not playing by the rules that helps God win, it's playing with the rules. Take the world's rules and show them what it truly means to have power. Ruling over someone, something is not truly power; you're simply a manager who keeps things in check. Creating is true power and there are no rules for being creative. Indeed, that is the antithesis of creativity. If it is a new creation, it cannot abide by any rule. It must, by definition, be something for which no rule exists. Otherwise, it is simply a new arrangement of something old. An essential character of poetry is that it makes the old seem new. That newness, that life, is the power of creativity being impressed on something old.
When I think of how Christ impacted lives, he would take the old, breath life into it and would reveal a new creation. There is so much impact not touched on in the power of new life poured out by the Spirit indwelling a newly saved person. I struggle at the loss when people fail to recognize the unspeakable glory of what the one lost sheep means. Newness, restoration, creation, salvation! How can we not get impassioned about such a display of power, such a display of genius and creative mastery? Let us create love and take hold of the words and works only we can.
For a long time, I wanted to be creative like the greats who have affected history. Not that I longed for fame. It was quite the opposite. I didn't want the attention. I wanted to be possess the ability, the power to so perfectly and amazingly reflect the majesty of creation. Genius captivates in such a way that their impressions of truth seem so perfectly formed that, though we may grasp that other truths exist, the one we behold at that moment is in itself perfect.
Indeed, the maturity of genius works are the essence of their captivating nature. They are so complete in their maturity that no flaws appear. Most creative works are representations of other things. Works of genius, however, are, in and of themselves, no longer representing something else, but, because of their combination of perfection, grace and beauty, something transcending the line of representative to actual.
I contemplated many of the great works of genius trying to find a magical bow that I could use to pull once and have the eternal truths they embody in their artistic efforts unfold themselves before me, hoping for a denouement from which I could glean my own possession of their prowess and abilities. This was really a vanity, the belief that I necessarily could autopsy surpassing brilliance simply by gazing at it long enough, but in this exercise held some interesting points I picked up along the way.
While reading Julia Kristeva's Revolution on Poetic Language many years ago, I noted her use of the term authority as being quite different from anything else I had ever read. In the back of my mind I held the concepts of authority, as discussed by Jesus, but only as a backdrop for my musings. From my considerations of Kristeva's work, I noticed my idea of the creative authority changed from that of "one possessing superior knowledge" (like a subject matter expert who knew all the fine points of a topic) to something more akin to a right over, an author's right.
The language, being French, played on the concepts a little differently than it had in English as the same sunlight on foreign waters shines a slightly different color. Authority hinted at authorship, not power...as in someone possessing the right to decide the fate of matters. At that moment, I saw God's authority more like that of an author than a legislative ruler. God's Word. His creative acts. His actions. These all were creative in nature. They added to existence, whereas authority, as I had always known it, focused more on the administration and government of affairs.
Suddenly, authority was a matter of creative expression.
I saw this insight, noted it, cataloged it into my memory and moved on. Several years later I encountered the creative spirit, mainly as a theme, a quiet hint of a conversation I sensed interesting, at conferences and in book titles. Several revelatory speakers have been discussing the power of God and how it intersects with the creative realms of the arts and sciences. In fact, creativity has been connected with revelatory circles for quite some time, but has only recently gotten a reintroduction on a national level.
Now, I look back and see that there is an almost silent undercurrent not being mentioned, at least no where that I note. In new age circles and some secular humanist camps, the theme that everyone's genius lies in their uniqueness. Now, there is the age-old truism that "You're unique". This is often followed by the tit-for-tat cynic saying, "...just like everyone else." There are many efforts to undermine the power of this statement, but the most dangerous is one that recognizes the truth in it.
Many preying on the power of this realization introduce it, establish it as "hidden truth" not shown by Christianity but known to those who are sharing it. Once people are trapped, they often have already been wounded in the belief that uniqueness cannot truly be tapped within the Christian framework. Well, I won't get into that discussion tonight, but rather point out that Christianity is not only a good fit for these truths, but the source of their power. What other faith has a creative act as the first occurrence in their past?
God's call is for each person to recognize they have a truly unique purpose in the Kingdom of God, to create the most amazing work yet to be seen with the help of all others on the face of this earth. Our authority, our authorship, lies in participating with God's will and love is the only medium through which we shall create truly eternal things. The creative spirit seeks to leave the world a different, changed place; this is the essence of what I sense alternative religions are hoping to captivate and that with which they are trying to abscond unnoticed.
I hate the thought that spiritual pick pockets surround me day in and day out, but it is so easy to forget that we are called to war with love. There is nothing better for an author to do than to leave their stamp, their unique signature on their works. That ensures the authenticity of their works. Most people fear the same way. But, only love can be unique. That is the stamp of a Christian authority, unique love, a love so special that it breaks the mold. It cracks even the hardest hearts and their stony souls with its powerful manner. Dare to love in ways that none have seen and claim your authority. Claim your authorship.
In our war of love and hate, it's not playing by the rules that helps God win, it's playing with the rules. Take the world's rules and show them what it truly means to have power. Ruling over someone, something is not truly power; you're simply a manager who keeps things in check. Creating is true power and there are no rules for being creative. Indeed, that is the antithesis of creativity. If it is a new creation, it cannot abide by any rule. It must, by definition, be something for which no rule exists. Otherwise, it is simply a new arrangement of something old. An essential character of poetry is that it makes the old seem new. That newness, that life, is the power of creativity being impressed on something old.
When I think of how Christ impacted lives, he would take the old, breath life into it and would reveal a new creation. There is so much impact not touched on in the power of new life poured out by the Spirit indwelling a newly saved person. I struggle at the loss when people fail to recognize the unspeakable glory of what the one lost sheep means. Newness, restoration, creation, salvation! How can we not get impassioned about such a display of power, such a display of genius and creative mastery? Let us create love and take hold of the words and works only we can.
About 4 days ago I saw Obama Barak on TV with his wife prior to doing an interview with someone. Maybe Oprah or some other media pundit. Now, I'm not a political person by any means, but upon seeing him, I immediately heard in my mind, "There's the next president." At that point, I took a few moments to research exactly who he is. I found out a few things, but mainly just got an idea of this man is. For followers of politics, his arrival is probably not that unheralded, but, I think for most folks, he will seem to have come from nowhere. At first, he seems quite fitting for the task, but, my ever-conspiring mind then questioned if he might be one of the world order types. Truth be told, I have no clue as to his ultimate plans or much more than the fact that he is being foisted it into the consciousness from nowhere. Nonetheless, I sensed such a strong hint when I got this word I wanted to note it for posterity.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
When in Baton Rouge, one of the elders in our church had leant me a few talks be a speaker named Leonard Sweet. At the time, I enjoyed what he had to say, but had pretty much forgotten his name except for when I happen across a copy of his CD in my old discs. Well, tonight I saw his name on a Google list while querying around for karios/chronos discussions. Clicking over to his site I found a refreshingly interesting set of articles. The talk I heard did no justice to his ideas. As it turns out, he is much more a clever, spot-on thinker than I initially gave him credit for.
The one article that I ended up reading through fully is called "E.P.I.C. Preaching". In it he outlines how he suggests people respond to the paradigm shift from logically based-preaching to a more experientially-based , interactive style. One passage that stood out the most, and there were many that stood out, was where Sweet wrote on connectedness. It stood out to me because I had written a few weeks ago on meaning and connectivity, but Sweet took it in a more practical, hands-on direction. He wrote,
This is the second time I've heard this idea of the Pharisaic preaching model being inferior and ineffective compared to Christ's approach recently. All in all, it is clear that connectedness, relationship and meaning are created more than ever now. With meaning from the past having been lost in the past few generations, we are in a place where we are called to create meaning and Sweet outlines a great place to start focusing.
The one article that I ended up reading through fully is called "E.P.I.C. Preaching". In it he outlines how he suggests people respond to the paradigm shift from logically based-preaching to a more experientially-based , interactive style. One passage that stood out the most, and there were many that stood out, was where Sweet wrote on connectedness. It stood out to me because I had written a few weeks ago on meaning and connectivity, but Sweet took it in a more practical, hands-on direction. He wrote,
EPIC preaching is not pulpit oratory, it's pew connection and interaction. The "command-and-control" model of pulpit-centric preaching is fading, just as "command-and-control" models of information-sharing are fast disappearing. It's the connections that count. It's the connected that inherit the kingdom. The greater the number and quality of the connections, the greater the caliber and creativity of discipleship. And worship. That's why, in many ways, you can't write an essay on EPIC preaching. Only on EPIC worship. I found this out when I invited cutting-edge preachers from around the globe to address a conference. They wouldn't come without their worship leaders and other members with whom they connect.
This is the second time I've heard this idea of the Pharisaic preaching model being inferior and ineffective compared to Christ's approach recently. All in all, it is clear that connectedness, relationship and meaning are created more than ever now. With meaning from the past having been lost in the past few generations, we are in a place where we are called to create meaning and Sweet outlines a great place to start focusing.
Time is a major concept in modern culture that has been used to deceive people because its radical nature has been lost to most people. More precisely, the belief that time is an unwavering, constant thing which can be counted on as an absolute standard for judgment is wrong. Indeed, part of the flaw of physics, and all modern sciences which rest on empiricism as a solid ground for belief systems outside that of science, is that it treats, or at least until recently treated, time as an infallible measure of reality. For science, the three dimensions of length, depth and width are quantifiable measurements which can be converted into idealized qualities, i.e., numbers. To attempt to do the same thing with the mutable properties of the universe, scientists presumed that time is a fourth dimensions and the transformation of matter in this dimension is an accurate reflection of the changes that occur in physical reality.
With the advent of Einsteinian physics is became clear that the space-time continuum is much less of a fixed medium model the Newtonian mechanistic model aimed to establish but much more a dynamic, instable and highly changing entity. So, with that new foundation, scientists have been trying to draw the unseen conclusions that the leap from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics instantiated. However, it's ironic that these differences have been around as known concepts for millenia. In Scripture, there are two terms for time: kairos and chronos. I want to try and unfold the tremendous depth of these two words and the legacy the difference holds for us today. If people can see how time is touched on in Scripture differently perhaps they can begin to realize how time in their own lives works more effectively.
The first, chronos, actually refers to an ancient Greek myth of Chronos or Aeon (depending on which myth you refer to), the father of time. Now, I am not trying to go down the road of mythology, but, rather to introduce how the words used in Scripture had their own history we are simply unaware of for the most part. At any rate, some good stubs can be found here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos). Chronos, in this picture, is the personification of unaging time. Now, that is significant because a person who never ages is captured at the same moment in their existence for time immemorial. They have no opportunity to do anything new. They are bound in the moment of their immortality.
In a less favorable light, chronos time, in its usage, is more of the concept of time that moves on without favor or concern for anyone. From it we the get the word for stopwatch (chronometer). And, there's the adage that "times stops for no one". The Greek notion of chronos had a less negative view of chronos time, but, what we have is unfavorable for the most part because it is neither caring nor forgiving, simply moving forward, the unending march of time. There are various references to the role Chronos played in Greek literature and poetry that essentially reveal Chronos is the arbiter of truth and ultimately establishes the will of the gods (their concepts, not mine!).
My take on this is that there is an experience, a mental state, where people can easily get lost in this sense of time. It is really a depressed state, a place where there is no opportunity, no freedom, simply the unwavering progression of events that lead through life: birth, youth, adulthood, elderliness and death. Hope enters into this worldview only as a concept, empowered by the energy the holder of the concept brings to it. In reality, it's a pretty sad, harsh sense of events and gauge for change in life. Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus really echoes the essence of what this mentality leads towards for the soul of man. (More on Camus' essay here.) There is, though not readily apparent in the English concept of time, another notion I want to highlight and whose significance I want to use Scripture to underline.
On the other hand, Karios is, in the Greek myths, the youngest child of Zeus. I think the following snippet summarizes the difference between the two most clearly:
(Please see Wikipedia for the full reading.) Mythologically, Kairos was the child of favor, the one who had opportunity. In contrast to Kairos, opportunity and favor were not thing Chronos had access to. Therein lies the fundamental difference between the two mythological sense of time. But, let's look at the Scriptural differences.
There are moments when human history and eternity intersect and overlap. This is where God annoints the affairs of men and time is no longer the ordinary passage of day into night and back into day again, but rather the opportune moment when men and women are given permission to partake in God's creative will. History is made in moments such as this. Look at Mark 1:15. This is an instance of kairos in Scripture, when, "He said, "The time has come, and the kingdom of God is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News."" Prophecy is being fulfilled. The days written about in this verse are seasons when history is no longer just a record of events but the creation of something new, a turning point in history.
On a more personal level, kairos moments occur all the time. Look at Paul. His Damascus road experience was a kairos moment. Any encounter we have with God is kairos, an opportunity to change, to grow, to love. But, what is as important about realizing that we are in a special season (a karios time) is knowing what to do in response to that revelation. Last week my pastor spoke on how revelation and response are two key things that happens with regards to God. In this entry, I am simply touching on the fact that there are moments unlike the normal times in our lives when opportunity presents itself. That is the revelation and we simply need to be made aware of these moments. The other half of the equation is responding to those moments. If we are speaking to someone and the Holy Spirit comes to soften their heart for evangelists to sow the seed or harvest the fruit, one must be close enough to sense God's will in opportune moments. Without great enough intimacy with God to hear him when he speaks, being aware of the opportune times will do no good. Much like blind men who feel the breaking of cold clouds from the warmth of their skin, they still remain blind to see what God does when the seasons change.
Madeline L'Engle wrote in Walking on Water:
Those moments when God breaks through the drudgery of our ordinary experience...that is the essence of kairos...and we as Christians seem lost in the war with time so much that we lose sight of these openings. We have to listen more closely to hear when we are given these timeless, divine appointments.
With the advent of Einsteinian physics is became clear that the space-time continuum is much less of a fixed medium model the Newtonian mechanistic model aimed to establish but much more a dynamic, instable and highly changing entity. So, with that new foundation, scientists have been trying to draw the unseen conclusions that the leap from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics instantiated. However, it's ironic that these differences have been around as known concepts for millenia. In Scripture, there are two terms for time: kairos and chronos. I want to try and unfold the tremendous depth of these two words and the legacy the difference holds for us today. If people can see how time is touched on in Scripture differently perhaps they can begin to realize how time in their own lives works more effectively.
The first, chronos, actually refers to an ancient Greek myth of Chronos or Aeon (depending on which myth you refer to), the father of time. Now, I am not trying to go down the road of mythology, but, rather to introduce how the words used in Scripture had their own history we are simply unaware of for the most part. At any rate, some good stubs can be found here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos). Chronos, in this picture, is the personification of unaging time. Now, that is significant because a person who never ages is captured at the same moment in their existence for time immemorial. They have no opportunity to do anything new. They are bound in the moment of their immortality.
In a less favorable light, chronos time, in its usage, is more of the concept of time that moves on without favor or concern for anyone. From it we the get the word for stopwatch (chronometer). And, there's the adage that "times stops for no one". The Greek notion of chronos had a less negative view of chronos time, but, what we have is unfavorable for the most part because it is neither caring nor forgiving, simply moving forward, the unending march of time. There are various references to the role Chronos played in Greek literature and poetry that essentially reveal Chronos is the arbiter of truth and ultimately establishes the will of the gods (their concepts, not mine!).
My take on this is that there is an experience, a mental state, where people can easily get lost in this sense of time. It is really a depressed state, a place where there is no opportunity, no freedom, simply the unwavering progression of events that lead through life: birth, youth, adulthood, elderliness and death. Hope enters into this worldview only as a concept, empowered by the energy the holder of the concept brings to it. In reality, it's a pretty sad, harsh sense of events and gauge for change in life. Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus really echoes the essence of what this mentality leads towards for the soul of man. (More on Camus' essay here.) There is, though not readily apparent in the English concept of time, another notion I want to highlight and whose significance I want to use Scripture to underline.
On the other hand, Karios is, in the Greek myths, the youngest child of Zeus. I think the following snippet summarizes the difference between the two most clearly:
Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the "right or opportune moment" . The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies "a time in between", a moment of undetermined period of time in which "something" special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the word. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative nature.
(Please see Wikipedia for the full reading.) Mythologically, Kairos was the child of favor, the one who had opportunity. In contrast to Kairos, opportunity and favor were not thing Chronos had access to. Therein lies the fundamental difference between the two mythological sense of time. But, let's look at the Scriptural differences.
There are moments when human history and eternity intersect and overlap. This is where God annoints the affairs of men and time is no longer the ordinary passage of day into night and back into day again, but rather the opportune moment when men and women are given permission to partake in God's creative will. History is made in moments such as this. Look at Mark 1:15. This is an instance of kairos in Scripture, when, "He said, "The time has come, and the kingdom of God is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News."" Prophecy is being fulfilled. The days written about in this verse are seasons when history is no longer just a record of events but the creation of something new, a turning point in history.
On a more personal level, kairos moments occur all the time. Look at Paul. His Damascus road experience was a kairos moment. Any encounter we have with God is kairos, an opportunity to change, to grow, to love. But, what is as important about realizing that we are in a special season (a karios time) is knowing what to do in response to that revelation. Last week my pastor spoke on how revelation and response are two key things that happens with regards to God. In this entry, I am simply touching on the fact that there are moments unlike the normal times in our lives when opportunity presents itself. That is the revelation and we simply need to be made aware of these moments. The other half of the equation is responding to those moments. If we are speaking to someone and the Holy Spirit comes to soften their heart for evangelists to sow the seed or harvest the fruit, one must be close enough to sense God's will in opportune moments. Without great enough intimacy with God to hear him when he speaks, being aware of the opportune times will do no good. Much like blind men who feel the breaking of cold clouds from the warmth of their skin, they still remain blind to see what God does when the seasons change.
Madeline L'Engle wrote in Walking on Water:
Kairos. Real time. God’s time.
That time which breaks through chronos with a shock of joy, that time we do not recognize while we are experiencing it, but only afterwards, because kairos has nothing to do with chronological time. In kairos we are completely unselfconscious, and yet paradoxically far more real than we can ever be when we’re constantly checking our watches for chronological time.
The saint in contemplation, lost to self in the mind of God is in kairos. The artist at work is in kairos. The child at play, totally thrown outside herself in the game, be it building a sand castle or making a daisy chain, is in kairos. In kairos we become what we are called to be as human beings, co-creators with God, touching on the wonder of creation.
Those moments when God breaks through the drudgery of our ordinary experience...that is the essence of kairos...and we as Christians seem lost in the war with time so much that we lose sight of these openings. We have to listen more closely to hear when we are given these timeless, divine appointments.
When first introduced to Plato's Republic it was made clear that real point of the book was justice, not any of the philosophical threads that have been spawned throughout history that are so commonly associated with the work. For a couple of years, I studied his ideas to see what they offered in practical terms, but, aside from the Socratic method, it became clear many of his discussions outlined little more than academic, in the most radical sense of the word, subject matter or pedagogical points of rhetoric. Nonetheless, the whole idea of justice was implanted in my brain in spite of the fact that my first exposure to a conception of justice might be failed to fully convey it.
Years later I was reintroduced to the concept of justice in regards to the Bible via John Paul Jackson's talks on the matter throughout Scripture. My wife's mentor, Valerie, has once told me the biggest thing I needed to focus on as a Christian was righteousness. For a long time I tried to grasp this concept with a pre-fabricated understanding of what justice is. To me, before I cast of my platonic idealism, justice was something demonstrated by Plato's ideas. All I had to do was reconcile the Bible's differences with Plato's and all would be well. It took a long time before I was given the realization that I had it backwards. Plato's ideas were just that, ideas, personal opinions founded on truth. Scripture, however, truly is about justice and righteousness; it's not a philosophical discussion of the matter.
Once this truth became clear it made the effort to reconcile Christianity to Platonism clearly a lost cause. At that point, I dropped the idea and started reading through Scriptures with an open mind, free of my own, half-baked ideas. Once I had let go of my faulty basis for concluded I knew about justice, God has been able to show me a lot about justice and injustice as well as righteousness and unrighteousness. With that experience of having had something so fundamentally wrong uncovered I often wonder if any of my other basic concepts about Scripture and Christianity are also incorrect and ultimately holding me back from a deeper relationship with God. Being a self-doubting soul makes it easy to over-analyze things, but that's where we simply have to trust God is standing next to us all the time, waiting to help us by giving us hints if we really listen and trust him.
Years later I was reintroduced to the concept of justice in regards to the Bible via John Paul Jackson's talks on the matter throughout Scripture. My wife's mentor, Valerie, has once told me the biggest thing I needed to focus on as a Christian was righteousness. For a long time I tried to grasp this concept with a pre-fabricated understanding of what justice is. To me, before I cast of my platonic idealism, justice was something demonstrated by Plato's ideas. All I had to do was reconcile the Bible's differences with Plato's and all would be well. It took a long time before I was given the realization that I had it backwards. Plato's ideas were just that, ideas, personal opinions founded on truth. Scripture, however, truly is about justice and righteousness; it's not a philosophical discussion of the matter.
Once this truth became clear it made the effort to reconcile Christianity to Platonism clearly a lost cause. At that point, I dropped the idea and started reading through Scriptures with an open mind, free of my own, half-baked ideas. Once I had let go of my faulty basis for concluded I knew about justice, God has been able to show me a lot about justice and injustice as well as righteousness and unrighteousness. With that experience of having had something so fundamentally wrong uncovered I often wonder if any of my other basic concepts about Scripture and Christianity are also incorrect and ultimately holding me back from a deeper relationship with God. Being a self-doubting soul makes it easy to over-analyze things, but that's where we simply have to trust God is standing next to us all the time, waiting to help us by giving us hints if we really listen and trust him.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
As seems to happen so often lately, going to church provided me a large download of tasks. It happens in spurts. For the most part, my assignments have been small. Blog this. Write this email. Read this. However, I find it challenging to try and keep up with all these little activities. Generally, keeping up lately means creating...specifically, writing. Lots of tidbits and thoughts that I find important for recording, possibly rephrased more accurately, as transcribing. In the back of my mind, though, is the notion that the creative spirit I keep hearing mentioned at the few conferences I go to is trying to get a stronger connection with my life. But, I am digressing a bit. It's neat to see God giving me more tasks and focusing me in the arena of my heart, creative works and writing about the things of God.
Today's sermon was about worship. Reviewing the list of podcasts hosted on the church website showed at least one sermon in the past year discussing worship. Yet, today's sermon really connected with me on several levels. Yesterday I received Barbie's monthly newsletter. It had the following word, "Do you sense the stirring in your spirit and restlessness in your soul? You are still in a time of transition as you leave behind the things that no longer have relevance in your life and prepare for the days ahead. This is a time of sorting and sifting, and that which either hinders your progress or has become useless will be set aside or discarded. Be sensitive to the leading of My Spirit, says the Lord, and be willing to release everything that would impede your progress. And when you let go, you will suddenly be aware of a greater spiritual freedom."
That word resonated within me so completely it's hard to communicate how encouraging it was. The past few weeks have been hard for me. Since Kerri and I got married things that I either clung to out of selfishness or fear have slowly been being removed one by one. The biggest was running. Prior to getting married I was running about 110 miles a week with the ambition of becoming a professional long distance runner. Since I was 12 I have been running and marriage marked a real turning point for me. Now, I hardly run at all, for a variety of reasons, but that major draw on my life is now gone. It is no longer relevant like so many other things in my life.
Then, I hear this sermon today talking about worship. For years I have wondered exactly how to worship. I know at times that the Holy Spirit descends and at those moments I am connected with God. That is the heart of worship, honoring God will my fullest attention. But, today's sermon started at a familiar crossroads: John 4:23. One of my friends, and an elder at Baton Rouge Vineyard, Kent, taught a series on the gospel that began with this scripture and went into some heavy messages...things I am still processing and will probably not fully comprehend for some time. (PS: Micah just redid his site and it looks great!) At any rate, I feel like today's message was a call from on high to refocus on this message, "worshipping him in spirit and truth."
Before I even heard Kent's talks, I had tried to apply my spiritual mathetmatics (Simone Weil's coinage, not my own) to Scripture trying to find those meaningful patterns. For instance, Jesus declares "I am the way, the truth and the life." (John 10:7) To the best of my knowledge, no one else has ever declared, "I am the truth." Later on, Jesus also declares, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) Though Jesus clearly stated "I am the truth" after he declared the power of truth, can nonetheless be rewritten as, "Then you will know me [the truth], and I [the truth] will set you free." It is Jesus who sets us free.
But, this type of axiomatic substitution doesn't meaningfully splash across scripture so I don't take it too heavily. For instance, when Jesus says "worship in spirit and truth" he's not talking about worshiping "in spirit and in me [truth]", so that doesn't really fit. Just in this one verse (8:31-32) does it really seem to add a dimension to what was being discussed. Freedom comes through relationship with Jesus, relationship with truth. It was an eye opener to try an substitute one scripture into another and see where it went, but it only worked in a few spots.
Of course, all this rests on the premise that the gospels are considered equivalent in their scope and message. They're not. John is set apart as not being one of the synoptic gospels so I am at times reluctant to base actions on the one gospel of the four that is least like the others. But, at the same time, it has more merit despite it's more deliberate theological content; John was the only gospel writer, as far as I know, to know Jesus personally. Futhermore, he was certainly the only gospel writer who was an Apostle. So, despite its variance from the common message, John's veracity comes to mind more quickly than the others.
Because I had some exposure to different facets of literature than I think lots of folks hearing this message it struck me oddly. In my philosophical readings I ran into a movement that focused on truth as a mathematical topic, one of pure logic. From, I learned, and this is pretty basic grad school fodder, truth is a matter of symbolic language. Words are symbols communicating information. In the case of truth, words communicate the way things really are. Now, going back to my basic word swapping approach, thinking of Jesus as a symbol communicating the way things really are made a lot of sense. If Jesus is the truth, his actions are how truth behaves and his speech is an expression of truth. Now, that is a lot more significant than where I started going with my word substitutions.
Well, Kent talked at length about Jesus' life and works, in particular how we, as modern evangelical Christians, have a tendancy to associate the "word" with the bible and by so doing effectively misrepresent what Jesus was all about. We negate the truth and the power of truth by connecting the wrong acts with the wrong words. This incorrect association bears out in the parallel logic of my little word experiments. If language is the medium through which truth is communicated, would truth exist without the right language connecting to the right meaning? Of course not. Now, if Christ's teachings without Christ are powerless, why do we persist in teaching that the gospel without the works of Christ is meaningful? Christian truth is a manifestion of Jesus Christ's life and spirit. Without this as the basis of our approach to life, Christianity is meaningless and disconnected from what the gospel teaches.
What is truth without language? Nothing. So, what is Christ without the Word? The word here is not the bible, the recorded history of his life and words. It is the living, life-giving spirit that raised him from the dead. Works, wonders and signs are prophetic inheritance we adopted from the Old Testament through Christ and his followers and I see life as a Christian without them as more harmful a reflection on Christ's life than otherwise. We are to worship him in spirit and truth. This calls us to fully focus our lives on God and the life modelled by Jesus in a way to which nothing else can compare. It is from this wholly focused body, soul and spirit that true worship and following of Christ comes. He echoes his own teaching, "Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” with these calls. Put God first in every part of your being and worship will occur wherever you are. You will see all creation as God's holy work. You will praise him for all things. It is our divine command. How can we not fully devote ourselves to him without knowing we are living a lie?
Also, it came clear that we can only do this, worship God in spirit and truth, by being completely focused on God. Let me take a real world analogy. Most people have five senses. It is easy to use one of these senses to know something. But, using all five senses gives a tremendous experience of something. Imagine something you can see, taste, touch, smell and hear. Whatever this is will have a powerful connection and provide a tremendous experience. In this case, the five senses overlap to create a very unique absorption in connection with the thing being experienced. It is almost as if nothing else can be experienced when one is so completed focused on this object.
Now, let's get a little less tangible: the soul. Augustine describes the soul as the mind, will and emotions. Much of what God wrestles over throughout scripture is the soul. Bodies can be healed. Souls, however, are not his domain, at least, not something over which he has unlimited control. He could. It is certainly within his right. But, he has chosen to create the dynamic of free will in order to receive true love and worship. Now, with that in mind, we must consider the three parts of the soul like we considered the five senses.
If the mind is focused on God, but the will and emotions are off in pursuit of selfish matters, God is not worshipped by what we do. Likewise, if the emotions are given to God but the mind and will are off on their own, he's still not honored. God is honored most when our mind, will and emotions are all focused on giving him glory. Now, what does that look like? It looks like worship. When we are making thoughtful, passionate choices for the kingdom in spirit and truth, God is going to be glorified. That is the fullest measure of worship the soul can offer. Beyond that is only physical, soul and spirit worship in union. That, when performed for years on end leads to holiness. That is the kind of worshipper God seeks, one who sets aside every part of their lives because they love him so much nothing can come between him and his lovers.
Today's sermon was about worship. Reviewing the list of podcasts hosted on the church website showed at least one sermon in the past year discussing worship. Yet, today's sermon really connected with me on several levels. Yesterday I received Barbie's monthly newsletter. It had the following word, "Do you sense the stirring in your spirit and restlessness in your soul? You are still in a time of transition as you leave behind the things that no longer have relevance in your life and prepare for the days ahead. This is a time of sorting and sifting, and that which either hinders your progress or has become useless will be set aside or discarded. Be sensitive to the leading of My Spirit, says the Lord, and be willing to release everything that would impede your progress. And when you let go, you will suddenly be aware of a greater spiritual freedom."
That word resonated within me so completely it's hard to communicate how encouraging it was. The past few weeks have been hard for me. Since Kerri and I got married things that I either clung to out of selfishness or fear have slowly been being removed one by one. The biggest was running. Prior to getting married I was running about 110 miles a week with the ambition of becoming a professional long distance runner. Since I was 12 I have been running and marriage marked a real turning point for me. Now, I hardly run at all, for a variety of reasons, but that major draw on my life is now gone. It is no longer relevant like so many other things in my life.
Then, I hear this sermon today talking about worship. For years I have wondered exactly how to worship. I know at times that the Holy Spirit descends and at those moments I am connected with God. That is the heart of worship, honoring God will my fullest attention. But, today's sermon started at a familiar crossroads: John 4:23. One of my friends, and an elder at Baton Rouge Vineyard, Kent, taught a series on the gospel that began with this scripture and went into some heavy messages...things I am still processing and will probably not fully comprehend for some time. (PS: Micah just redid his site and it looks great!) At any rate, I feel like today's message was a call from on high to refocus on this message, "worshipping him in spirit and truth."
Before I even heard Kent's talks, I had tried to apply my spiritual mathetmatics (Simone Weil's coinage, not my own) to Scripture trying to find those meaningful patterns. For instance, Jesus declares "I am the way, the truth and the life." (John 10:7) To the best of my knowledge, no one else has ever declared, "I am the truth." Later on, Jesus also declares, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) Though Jesus clearly stated "I am the truth" after he declared the power of truth, can nonetheless be rewritten as, "Then you will know me [the truth], and I [the truth] will set you free." It is Jesus who sets us free.
But, this type of axiomatic substitution doesn't meaningfully splash across scripture so I don't take it too heavily. For instance, when Jesus says "worship in spirit and truth" he's not talking about worshiping "in spirit and in me [truth]", so that doesn't really fit. Just in this one verse (8:31-32) does it really seem to add a dimension to what was being discussed. Freedom comes through relationship with Jesus, relationship with truth. It was an eye opener to try an substitute one scripture into another and see where it went, but it only worked in a few spots.
Of course, all this rests on the premise that the gospels are considered equivalent in their scope and message. They're not. John is set apart as not being one of the synoptic gospels so I am at times reluctant to base actions on the one gospel of the four that is least like the others. But, at the same time, it has more merit despite it's more deliberate theological content; John was the only gospel writer, as far as I know, to know Jesus personally. Futhermore, he was certainly the only gospel writer who was an Apostle. So, despite its variance from the common message, John's veracity comes to mind more quickly than the others.
Because I had some exposure to different facets of literature than I think lots of folks hearing this message it struck me oddly. In my philosophical readings I ran into a movement that focused on truth as a mathematical topic, one of pure logic. From, I learned, and this is pretty basic grad school fodder, truth is a matter of symbolic language. Words are symbols communicating information. In the case of truth, words communicate the way things really are. Now, going back to my basic word swapping approach, thinking of Jesus as a symbol communicating the way things really are made a lot of sense. If Jesus is the truth, his actions are how truth behaves and his speech is an expression of truth. Now, that is a lot more significant than where I started going with my word substitutions.
Well, Kent talked at length about Jesus' life and works, in particular how we, as modern evangelical Christians, have a tendancy to associate the "word" with the bible and by so doing effectively misrepresent what Jesus was all about. We negate the truth and the power of truth by connecting the wrong acts with the wrong words. This incorrect association bears out in the parallel logic of my little word experiments. If language is the medium through which truth is communicated, would truth exist without the right language connecting to the right meaning? Of course not. Now, if Christ's teachings without Christ are powerless, why do we persist in teaching that the gospel without the works of Christ is meaningful? Christian truth is a manifestion of Jesus Christ's life and spirit. Without this as the basis of our approach to life, Christianity is meaningless and disconnected from what the gospel teaches.
What is truth without language? Nothing. So, what is Christ without the Word? The word here is not the bible, the recorded history of his life and words. It is the living, life-giving spirit that raised him from the dead. Works, wonders and signs are prophetic inheritance we adopted from the Old Testament through Christ and his followers and I see life as a Christian without them as more harmful a reflection on Christ's life than otherwise. We are to worship him in spirit and truth. This calls us to fully focus our lives on God and the life modelled by Jesus in a way to which nothing else can compare. It is from this wholly focused body, soul and spirit that true worship and following of Christ comes. He echoes his own teaching, "Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” with these calls. Put God first in every part of your being and worship will occur wherever you are. You will see all creation as God's holy work. You will praise him for all things. It is our divine command. How can we not fully devote ourselves to him without knowing we are living a lie?
Also, it came clear that we can only do this, worship God in spirit and truth, by being completely focused on God. Let me take a real world analogy. Most people have five senses. It is easy to use one of these senses to know something. But, using all five senses gives a tremendous experience of something. Imagine something you can see, taste, touch, smell and hear. Whatever this is will have a powerful connection and provide a tremendous experience. In this case, the five senses overlap to create a very unique absorption in connection with the thing being experienced. It is almost as if nothing else can be experienced when one is so completed focused on this object.
Now, let's get a little less tangible: the soul. Augustine describes the soul as the mind, will and emotions. Much of what God wrestles over throughout scripture is the soul. Bodies can be healed. Souls, however, are not his domain, at least, not something over which he has unlimited control. He could. It is certainly within his right. But, he has chosen to create the dynamic of free will in order to receive true love and worship. Now, with that in mind, we must consider the three parts of the soul like we considered the five senses.
If the mind is focused on God, but the will and emotions are off in pursuit of selfish matters, God is not worshipped by what we do. Likewise, if the emotions are given to God but the mind and will are off on their own, he's still not honored. God is honored most when our mind, will and emotions are all focused on giving him glory. Now, what does that look like? It looks like worship. When we are making thoughtful, passionate choices for the kingdom in spirit and truth, God is going to be glorified. That is the fullest measure of worship the soul can offer. Beyond that is only physical, soul and spirit worship in union. That, when performed for years on end leads to holiness. That is the kind of worshipper God seeks, one who sets aside every part of their lives because they love him so much nothing can come between him and his lovers.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
One of my long standing projects and, it seems like lifelong, goals is to explore the spiritual warfare passages from Ephesians. The first few times I read these verse they really stood out to me. Yet, the book only fully opened up for me as I prepared to teach a small study group on the section. One of the elders from my church had shared with me the greatest tool a teacher can use is anything that makes your points practical, concrete and real to the people you're trying to share your ideas with.
Before I could make Paul's writings real, I had to know what they were about to begin with. So, I began studying the book as a whole. What was its context? Where did it fit in the scope of other books? When was it written? What had Paul done prior to being in Ephesus? Why was he in prison? The list went on for quite some time. To be able to put ourselves in Paul's mind we had to be able to first get in the room he was in, in the place in history to peer into what deeper things God was revealing through these verses.
It was with this research that God began to reveal some interesting pieces of revelation about the passage more closely than I had known before. Ephesians is one of three epistles written during Paul's imprisonment. He was being guarded by a member of the Praetorian Guard at all times. This would be much like a member of our modern Secret Service or Central Security Service being with us twenty four, seven. These were the most esteemed and honored of warriors in the Roman Empire. So, Paul had a lot of time to familiarize himself with the Roman soldier.
In fact, I felt led to examine the nature and history of the Roman military to understand what Paul was writing more fully. The verses he penned probably were written in or near the presence of one of these soldiers. He had only to look up or walk outside of his house to see what a warrior looked like. Yet, in the context of his spiritual life, Paul himself understood warfare more so than even this most honored of warriors. Paul himself is not unlike a general writing to his soldiers in the letter. His commands, "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power", are unlike the words of an ordinary man. He had the ability to speak with supernatural authority. When he spoke, power filled his words and things happened. We often read lightly what he writes in these passages and consider his commands as meaningful writings worth considering when we feel strong and focused as Christians.
In the army orders from a general are not considered, they are obeyed. And, thinking of Paul as a spiritual general of the highest order, how can Christians dismiss what is being said...or more specifically, ordered...without failing to understand the importance of Paul's writings? He speaks not to suggest but rather to empower. As Jesus spoke and supernatural power changed lives, Paul's words are meant to fill the hearer (or reader) with a supernatural call to action. "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Read this and think, Paul had fought every kind of battle a spiritual soldier can fight and has been aided to victory by the Lord. He has been promoted and called by Christ himself. When he says, "Put on the full armor", we are to do it.
This kind of approach to reading this passage has been lost in translation due to generations forgetting the perspective and character of the man writing the letter. We are warriors and God is our shield. Surrounding ourselves with love and warring in that spirit for God's will and justice to be done can do some amazing things. But, remember, we have to be prepared. How many police officers wake up and go to work without Kevlar vests, badges and sidearms? None. How many Christians take the same precautions? Far more than I would care to admit. If we remember that we are in an eternal battle with an enemy whose sole purpose and ambition is to destroy us it's easy to keep focused. But, most people prefer to live in a demilitarized zone. It's just easier.
One particular passage that stood out to me was actually brought to me by Page. One day, while we still lived in Baton Rouge, I had been meditating on these verses. As always she was just being interested in something and grabbed a little blue book of one of our shelves and handed it to me. It was a Catholic book of saints. I thought, hmmm, that's interesting. At that moment, I became curious about whether the angels, Gabriel and Michael, were honored as saints. Sure enough they were. I read Michael's bio and thumbed through the book considering how odd it is that an angel, a created being but not a human, became a saint. What sort of strange theology what was...
Then, another thought occurred to me: in Latin the term for righteousness is virtue. At that moment, it clicked: one of the orders of angels mentioned by several early church fathers was the virtues. Since righteousness is a virtue, we are surrounded by angelic protection by the Lord. The breastplate of righteousness, as mentioned in the Ephesians passage, is, in reality, the presence of God's angelic guard. The language of Ephesians is symbolic, but the link to God's real guardianship is unmistakable. Paul was instructing his charges to daily put on righteousness, a character quality, in order to protect our hearts and our souls. Indeed, what does a breastplate protect most, the torso, but, more specifically, the heart.
As is said throughout scripture, man is wicked all the days of his life. But, through God's grace and mercy we may receive the opportunity to be surrounded by his righteousness. Through obedience to his word and faithfulness to his laws we grow closer to him. Daily putting on righteousness, daily choosing to honor God with everything we do will protect our hearts...for, we will not grow greedy or bitter. Humility and thanksgiving flow from a heart that is surrounded by righteousness. What a great protection Paul wrote of.
I still cannot understand how people light read this passage. Most of the emphasis is placed on the verses that talk about principalities and powers. In reality, the important part of the verses lie in what we are commanded to do. Daily war demands...survival to fulfill our missions demand on learning and adhering to Paul's orders. Find the true meaning of what each piece of armor means and you are ready for the true battles that confront your daily walk. Here's the list of items with the literal meanings:
Belt - truthfulness
Breastplate - righteousness
Shield - faith
Feet - readiness
Helmet - knowledge and certainty of salvation
Sword - Word of God
Those principles-truthfulness, righteousness, faith, readiness, certainty of salvation and strong grip on the Word-cannot be surpassed. Sitting there watching his guard, Paul was modeling his message on a real, tangible example of what excellence in warfare was all about, the Praetorian Guard. But, he was teaching, instructing, what it meant to do battle in love.
Before I could make Paul's writings real, I had to know what they were about to begin with. So, I began studying the book as a whole. What was its context? Where did it fit in the scope of other books? When was it written? What had Paul done prior to being in Ephesus? Why was he in prison? The list went on for quite some time. To be able to put ourselves in Paul's mind we had to be able to first get in the room he was in, in the place in history to peer into what deeper things God was revealing through these verses.
It was with this research that God began to reveal some interesting pieces of revelation about the passage more closely than I had known before. Ephesians is one of three epistles written during Paul's imprisonment. He was being guarded by a member of the Praetorian Guard at all times. This would be much like a member of our modern Secret Service or Central Security Service being with us twenty four, seven. These were the most esteemed and honored of warriors in the Roman Empire. So, Paul had a lot of time to familiarize himself with the Roman soldier.
In fact, I felt led to examine the nature and history of the Roman military to understand what Paul was writing more fully. The verses he penned probably were written in or near the presence of one of these soldiers. He had only to look up or walk outside of his house to see what a warrior looked like. Yet, in the context of his spiritual life, Paul himself understood warfare more so than even this most honored of warriors. Paul himself is not unlike a general writing to his soldiers in the letter. His commands, "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power", are unlike the words of an ordinary man. He had the ability to speak with supernatural authority. When he spoke, power filled his words and things happened. We often read lightly what he writes in these passages and consider his commands as meaningful writings worth considering when we feel strong and focused as Christians.
In the army orders from a general are not considered, they are obeyed. And, thinking of Paul as a spiritual general of the highest order, how can Christians dismiss what is being said...or more specifically, ordered...without failing to understand the importance of Paul's writings? He speaks not to suggest but rather to empower. As Jesus spoke and supernatural power changed lives, Paul's words are meant to fill the hearer (or reader) with a supernatural call to action. "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Read this and think, Paul had fought every kind of battle a spiritual soldier can fight and has been aided to victory by the Lord. He has been promoted and called by Christ himself. When he says, "Put on the full armor", we are to do it.
This kind of approach to reading this passage has been lost in translation due to generations forgetting the perspective and character of the man writing the letter. We are warriors and God is our shield. Surrounding ourselves with love and warring in that spirit for God's will and justice to be done can do some amazing things. But, remember, we have to be prepared. How many police officers wake up and go to work without Kevlar vests, badges and sidearms? None. How many Christians take the same precautions? Far more than I would care to admit. If we remember that we are in an eternal battle with an enemy whose sole purpose and ambition is to destroy us it's easy to keep focused. But, most people prefer to live in a demilitarized zone. It's just easier.
One particular passage that stood out to me was actually brought to me by Page. One day, while we still lived in Baton Rouge, I had been meditating on these verses. As always she was just being interested in something and grabbed a little blue book of one of our shelves and handed it to me. It was a Catholic book of saints. I thought, hmmm, that's interesting. At that moment, I became curious about whether the angels, Gabriel and Michael, were honored as saints. Sure enough they were. I read Michael's bio and thumbed through the book considering how odd it is that an angel, a created being but not a human, became a saint. What sort of strange theology what was...
Then, another thought occurred to me: in Latin the term for righteousness is virtue. At that moment, it clicked: one of the orders of angels mentioned by several early church fathers was the virtues. Since righteousness is a virtue, we are surrounded by angelic protection by the Lord. The breastplate of righteousness, as mentioned in the Ephesians passage, is, in reality, the presence of God's angelic guard. The language of Ephesians is symbolic, but the link to God's real guardianship is unmistakable. Paul was instructing his charges to daily put on righteousness, a character quality, in order to protect our hearts and our souls. Indeed, what does a breastplate protect most, the torso, but, more specifically, the heart.
As is said throughout scripture, man is wicked all the days of his life. But, through God's grace and mercy we may receive the opportunity to be surrounded by his righteousness. Through obedience to his word and faithfulness to his laws we grow closer to him. Daily putting on righteousness, daily choosing to honor God with everything we do will protect our hearts...for, we will not grow greedy or bitter. Humility and thanksgiving flow from a heart that is surrounded by righteousness. What a great protection Paul wrote of.
I still cannot understand how people light read this passage. Most of the emphasis is placed on the verses that talk about principalities and powers. In reality, the important part of the verses lie in what we are commanded to do. Daily war demands...survival to fulfill our missions demand on learning and adhering to Paul's orders. Find the true meaning of what each piece of armor means and you are ready for the true battles that confront your daily walk. Here's the list of items with the literal meanings:
Belt - truthfulness
Breastplate - righteousness
Shield - faith
Feet - readiness
Helmet - knowledge and certainty of salvation
Sword - Word of God
Those principles-truthfulness, righteousness, faith, readiness, certainty of salvation and strong grip on the Word-cannot be surpassed. Sitting there watching his guard, Paul was modeling his message on a real, tangible example of what excellence in warfare was all about, the Praetorian Guard. But, he was teaching, instructing, what it meant to do battle in love.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
I like to try and find analogies between emerging technology and established trends, things which have been entrenched into the fabric of society. Blogging, though not exactly original, is novel in that it allows easy access to writings from anywhere. You don't have to have your notebook or a specific computer to pull a bit you wrote in April 1995 any longer. Hopefully this particular host will stay around long enough for the writing I do now to one day serve as a reflective point...something I can read and say, "I remember when I wrote that." In fact, that's one of the major points I consider when I blog. Sure, I like to get my pie-in-the-sky ideas out of my head, but storing them in a place for posterity's sake makes blogging really interesting. My gravest fear is that the hosting service drops or the databases are lost. I would presume a major service uses high fault tolerant server storage to prevent loss, but it's not always the case that expectations are met. Hopefully they will be in this case.
With that sidetrack in mind, I want to jot down a few little things that happened the past week for reflection later. I did actually create a little database-driven desktop web application for tracking spiritual events because I like to try and identify patterns. Unless you actually record things though, you only have memory to rely on, and that ain't so grand most of the time. Anyhow, about two weeks ago Page was put to bed early for some out-of-bounds activity. She doesn't really like the dark, so she screamed and wailed a bit. Finally, we figured she passed out as she often does. The next morning, she told Kerri that she was scared of the dark and two birds came in and sang to her. Well, Kerri and I immediately knew what that was. It is nice to see our kids learning of the presence of God and his ministering spirits so early in their lives. Perhaps we can usher them into the Kingdom work earlier than we were called by teaching them from the start instead of 25 years into our lives.
Kerri also had some interesting experiences. As always we talked about our dreams on Thursday morning. She told me all she could remember about the one dream was fried chicken. Not much else. Well, as the Lord would have it, one of the pastors at church this morning used a story about fried chicken to relate the tendency of the current church's reluctance or unwillingness to reach out to the world and minister only to itself. I have had a growing dissatisfaction with my own life and its remarkably non-Christian feel lately. For the most part I get too caught up in my head with unspoken mind games, philosophical debates and spiritual musings to stay focused on the great commission and really become guilty of doing nothing to share the gospel. Of course that ties into the other ongoing debate, what exactly am I called to do...but that is another post altogether.
The other instance Kerri had was Friday. When she went in for her 20 week checkup, a woman who had come in before her was watching Kerri play with the kids. As always Kerri did a great job with the kids. Fully armed with books in hard, snacks, drinks, the works, Kerri kept the kids focused and engaged while waiting. After being called to the back and having gathered everything the woman stopped Kerri and gave a huge word of encouragement about how well she handled the kids. Apparently, she had been watching her the whole time. Kerri noted that she also didn't seem to write a single word while waiting almost 30 minutes. A little odd if you ask us...a pregnant woman doing nothing and giving Kerri a nice edifying word out of the blue. The most interesting part is that Kerri had been miserable the night before and talked about how much she needed a break and how drained she was. Seems like the Lord is speaking into those areas of our lives.
Cool stuff going on.
With that sidetrack in mind, I want to jot down a few little things that happened the past week for reflection later. I did actually create a little database-driven desktop web application for tracking spiritual events because I like to try and identify patterns. Unless you actually record things though, you only have memory to rely on, and that ain't so grand most of the time. Anyhow, about two weeks ago Page was put to bed early for some out-of-bounds activity. She doesn't really like the dark, so she screamed and wailed a bit. Finally, we figured she passed out as she often does. The next morning, she told Kerri that she was scared of the dark and two birds came in and sang to her. Well, Kerri and I immediately knew what that was. It is nice to see our kids learning of the presence of God and his ministering spirits so early in their lives. Perhaps we can usher them into the Kingdom work earlier than we were called by teaching them from the start instead of 25 years into our lives.
Kerri also had some interesting experiences. As always we talked about our dreams on Thursday morning. She told me all she could remember about the one dream was fried chicken. Not much else. Well, as the Lord would have it, one of the pastors at church this morning used a story about fried chicken to relate the tendency of the current church's reluctance or unwillingness to reach out to the world and minister only to itself. I have had a growing dissatisfaction with my own life and its remarkably non-Christian feel lately. For the most part I get too caught up in my head with unspoken mind games, philosophical debates and spiritual musings to stay focused on the great commission and really become guilty of doing nothing to share the gospel. Of course that ties into the other ongoing debate, what exactly am I called to do...but that is another post altogether.
The other instance Kerri had was Friday. When she went in for her 20 week checkup, a woman who had come in before her was watching Kerri play with the kids. As always Kerri did a great job with the kids. Fully armed with books in hard, snacks, drinks, the works, Kerri kept the kids focused and engaged while waiting. After being called to the back and having gathered everything the woman stopped Kerri and gave a huge word of encouragement about how well she handled the kids. Apparently, she had been watching her the whole time. Kerri noted that she also didn't seem to write a single word while waiting almost 30 minutes. A little odd if you ask us...a pregnant woman doing nothing and giving Kerri a nice edifying word out of the blue. The most interesting part is that Kerri had been miserable the night before and talked about how much she needed a break and how drained she was. Seems like the Lord is speaking into those areas of our lives.
Cool stuff going on.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
A nice long work day gave me lots of time to think about some different things that seem important in these days. For years I have wondered what worship must have been like for the prophets. They wrote these songs that are amazing insights into the heart and spirit of God. Their songs literally utter freedom and God's will into the world in a new way. Then, as I was thinking about the prophetic voice, I remembered that poetry is often thought of as retelling the old in a new way. Look at most any modern poetry, at least anything that is worth reading, and their themes are perennial, almost timeless echoes of what has come before...put in a new form of expression.
Looking back again at how the prophets sang, they did something very similar. They expressed their awe and appreciation for God's love and majesty in a new way. Indeed, that is one of the things that has always drawn me to the prophetic scriptures, their poetic nature. To avoid getting sidetracked, I'll just point out that realizing we can worship in a similar way helped me breakthrough my own limitations. I'm not a songwriters, and I'm certainly not a poet. Nonetheless, I do have the same heart, a desire to sing to God a new song, to create something new that reflects him.
As I meditated on this circle of thoughts it came to mind that there are no songs that speak of this prophetic praise...at least not many that are popular. I know in my dream interpretation I have learned to begin thinking of things in a new way, a more metaphorical, symbolic manner. Taking this further, putting old scripture into new song could connect with people. In the Old Testament the priest was to sprinkle the holy of holies with blood from his hands. (I'll have to check on the exact protocol to be sure I have the details right.) We don't do this today, seeing as, 1) it's not needed with the new covenant and 2) people are turned off by such practices. However, that is no reason to stop us from worshipping symbolically this way.
In dream interpretation, we are taught to understand that certain things are merely representative in dreams, though there can certainly be times where the dream is literal. For instance, hands are often thought to symbolize relationships. Blood can symbolically considered to be the blood of Christ. So, instead of sprinkling blood on the altar with our hands, we can spread the sanctifying power of Christ through our relationships as a form of modern worship. By applying the symbols to old practices we can identify new ways to worship God. Reaching out and finding these types of new worship is a poetic expression, a prophetic expression I think God would find pleasing and the world would be blessed by.
Looking back again at how the prophets sang, they did something very similar. They expressed their awe and appreciation for God's love and majesty in a new way. Indeed, that is one of the things that has always drawn me to the prophetic scriptures, their poetic nature. To avoid getting sidetracked, I'll just point out that realizing we can worship in a similar way helped me breakthrough my own limitations. I'm not a songwriters, and I'm certainly not a poet. Nonetheless, I do have the same heart, a desire to sing to God a new song, to create something new that reflects him.
As I meditated on this circle of thoughts it came to mind that there are no songs that speak of this prophetic praise...at least not many that are popular. I know in my dream interpretation I have learned to begin thinking of things in a new way, a more metaphorical, symbolic manner. Taking this further, putting old scripture into new song could connect with people. In the Old Testament the priest was to sprinkle the holy of holies with blood from his hands. (I'll have to check on the exact protocol to be sure I have the details right.) We don't do this today, seeing as, 1) it's not needed with the new covenant and 2) people are turned off by such practices. However, that is no reason to stop us from worshipping symbolically this way.
In dream interpretation, we are taught to understand that certain things are merely representative in dreams, though there can certainly be times where the dream is literal. For instance, hands are often thought to symbolize relationships. Blood can symbolically considered to be the blood of Christ. So, instead of sprinkling blood on the altar with our hands, we can spread the sanctifying power of Christ through our relationships as a form of modern worship. By applying the symbols to old practices we can identify new ways to worship God. Reaching out and finding these types of new worship is a poetic expression, a prophetic expression I think God would find pleasing and the world would be blessed by.
Friday, February 02, 2007
In philosophy they like to throw around some heavy concepts. One of the more fringe topics I like to read about, at least just to see what people are thinking every now and again, revolves around the concept of embodiment. Essentially, embodiment is a condition of being whereby something is (or is not) required to have a physical being in order to be real. So, for most people, the concept of being a human being requires embodiment. If you have no body, you can't be a human being.
One thing I like to ponder is the nature of personhood with relationship to embodiment. This poses the most interest for me simply because of the Christian paradox of angels. We know angels exist, but they do not always have bodies. Though some do (Abram's visitors) generally angels require no body. Yet, if they have no body at other times, how can we interact with and know them? One of the more challenging ideas materialism faces is the idea that being can have no body and still be a part of our normal universe. If they have no body, how can they affect our world? The obvious answer is they can't, but I think a little less superficial consideration reveals that embodiment is not necessarily a condition for spiritual experiences. Well, if spiritual beings don't have to have a body, how can we get to know them? Isn't that the 50-million dollar question....
Another interesting topic is that of the soul's relationship to embodiment. For instance, if Christians have a relationship with Jesus, what is it? It's easy to get off into mystical contemplation, but when trying to paint by numbers with the Rembrandt of reality we fail to put two and two together. Jesus is still embodied, but he is in the third heaven. The Holy Spirit however can have a body or not at any time if He so chooses and as the Father's will dictates.
Ok, so what? I often have mock conversations with myself about things I might discuss with folks that don't quite see things Christian the same way I do. One thought regarding the issue of Jesus' immaterial relationship with believers pointed to this analogy. Let's say someone has a grandfather they never knew. He did, however, leave tremendous impacts on your life via people that knew him and you. The question is, just because he was not a physical presence in your life...did he not change who you are? I would wager no. In that case, the point that a person need not physically be present in your life to affect it becomes valid. In much the same way, Jesus is not directly, physically in my life, but, he does affect it whether I can see him or not.
And, on another throught...
On a slightly less focused theme, I find myself noticing some interesting symbolism in Scripture. In both the negative path and the positive I find it easy to think of the spiritual body as something akin to an electric body. Now, I'm not trying to superimpose the idea of subtle bodies from theosophy onto Christianity. It's merely a thought I had pass through my brain.
People often talk about their nerves as being on fire. For instance, the talk of hell is that it is an endless fire, a void without God. Now, I know the implications of the reality of hell are much more than what I am alluding to here. But, there is a similarity to the concept of a human spirit removed from the sheath of the human body and that of the spiritual experiences mystics mention. If we cast off this body (become disembodied) the purity (or impurity) of our spirit is directly exposes to the power of God. It's much like a person being hooked up to a 220V outlet. The power flows through the body at a tremendous rate. Only, the holy person feels the power and glory of God while the unrighteous person feels the glory destroying them. It is as if their disembodied spiritual self cannot bear to be in the presence of pure love.
This is very poorly put together, but I felt a need to at least start writing about it.
One thing I like to ponder is the nature of personhood with relationship to embodiment. This poses the most interest for me simply because of the Christian paradox of angels. We know angels exist, but they do not always have bodies. Though some do (Abram's visitors) generally angels require no body. Yet, if they have no body at other times, how can we interact with and know them? One of the more challenging ideas materialism faces is the idea that being can have no body and still be a part of our normal universe. If they have no body, how can they affect our world? The obvious answer is they can't, but I think a little less superficial consideration reveals that embodiment is not necessarily a condition for spiritual experiences. Well, if spiritual beings don't have to have a body, how can we get to know them? Isn't that the 50-million dollar question....
Another interesting topic is that of the soul's relationship to embodiment. For instance, if Christians have a relationship with Jesus, what is it? It's easy to get off into mystical contemplation, but when trying to paint by numbers with the Rembrandt of reality we fail to put two and two together. Jesus is still embodied, but he is in the third heaven. The Holy Spirit however can have a body or not at any time if He so chooses and as the Father's will dictates.
Ok, so what? I often have mock conversations with myself about things I might discuss with folks that don't quite see things Christian the same way I do. One thought regarding the issue of Jesus' immaterial relationship with believers pointed to this analogy. Let's say someone has a grandfather they never knew. He did, however, leave tremendous impacts on your life via people that knew him and you. The question is, just because he was not a physical presence in your life...did he not change who you are? I would wager no. In that case, the point that a person need not physically be present in your life to affect it becomes valid. In much the same way, Jesus is not directly, physically in my life, but, he does affect it whether I can see him or not.
And, on another throught...
On a slightly less focused theme, I find myself noticing some interesting symbolism in Scripture. In both the negative path and the positive I find it easy to think of the spiritual body as something akin to an electric body. Now, I'm not trying to superimpose the idea of subtle bodies from theosophy onto Christianity. It's merely a thought I had pass through my brain.
People often talk about their nerves as being on fire. For instance, the talk of hell is that it is an endless fire, a void without God. Now, I know the implications of the reality of hell are much more than what I am alluding to here. But, there is a similarity to the concept of a human spirit removed from the sheath of the human body and that of the spiritual experiences mystics mention. If we cast off this body (become disembodied) the purity (or impurity) of our spirit is directly exposes to the power of God. It's much like a person being hooked up to a 220V outlet. The power flows through the body at a tremendous rate. Only, the holy person feels the power and glory of God while the unrighteous person feels the glory destroying them. It is as if their disembodied spiritual self cannot bear to be in the presence of pure love.
This is very poorly put together, but I felt a need to at least start writing about it.
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