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Above All–Love

September 22, 2011 by Irmgarde Brown

I think about the number of times I have written about love in this three year series and yet, it keeps coming up: gospel after gospel, epistle after epistle. And yet, we are so accustomed to the word, it seems to have lost its power in our day to day lives.

I Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

So, a little reminder. This is not the love of flutterings in the heart or sweet whispers in the ear. This is the love of acceptance and challenges, trust and risk, out of the comfort zone and into the chaos of human mistakes. This love takes courage. This love is conscious. This love is on purpose.

This love is not easy because you may not get love back.

This love takes practice. This love is about process not results; persistence not signposts; and honesty. People who are hard to love must be loved authentically. Fake love or actions that only “look” like love have no power.

I’ll say it again. The power of love is in its authenticity. Anything else is Cupid.

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Suffering: Go Ahead?

September 19, 2011 by Irmgarde Brown

If there’s anyone out there who seeks suffering, raise your hand. That’s what I thought. The view of suffering put forth so strongly by Peter is one of the reasons “suffering” has been elevated, in some circles, to holiness. I can’t line up with this completely.

I Peter 4:1
SO, SINCE Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God], . . . [Amplified]

I believe, for those who are suffering now, today, these words are a comfort. There is hope, then, in suffering, there can even be a purpose and reward, in some space/time. The people of Peter’s time were suffering deeply, whether by poverty or by persecution. Times such as those must be endured with a respect for their existence–an acceptance of what is.

There is no doubt in my mind, that a person of faith who has gone through agony of the body, has little energy for anything else. Like the “refiner’s fire,” it will remove every useless thing, every useless thought. Endurance is an energy suck. Hope is the best fuel for sustaining oneself in a flood of pain.

I understand all of this.

But the greater part of me wants to fight suffering, not my own, but that of others. I want healing for them. I want renewal and restoration. I want “manifested hope” through wholeness.

As long as I am strong and healthy, then I have a job to do on behalf of those who are not. I must have the courage of Abraham who negotiated the release of the faithful from Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:33pp). I must be bold like Elijah who believed the rain would come (I Kings 18:45) and then later, believed the fire would come (II Kings 1:10), because God is faithful. I must be persistent like the parable of the widow and the judge (Luke 8:1-8).

Because I believe we are called to partner with the Christ to materialize heaven on earth, then wholeness is part of that equation. Can I bear it? Can I believe in the face of pain and sorrow, loss and despair? I must.

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Pledge of a Clear Conscience

September 16, 2011 by Irmgarde Brown

Water baptism is controversial among various denominations, from dunking to sprinkling, from adults to infants, required or not required, and so on. But, according to Peter, it can be symbolic, it can be a moment in time when the person says, “Yes, from this day forth . . . ”

I Peter 1:21a
. . . and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.

I suppose then, if parents want to mark a day for their babies (at Christenings and dedications and such), is that a bad thing? Does the infant have an unclear conscience, not really. Is the day meaningful for the child, no. But it can be important for the parents on behalf of the child and whatever has gone before that child’s birth. Perhaps they need to mark a moment in time to let go of former circumstances or negative thoughts about the child, this bundle of life that has changed their lives forever. Perhaps they need to make a pledge that day, to move forward and not look back. I like the idea although I doubt it’s a concept shared with young parents. Wish it were.

Now, as to adults and baptism . . .

When I made the decision, some thirty years ago, to become a follower of Christ, I was “all in” except for the church thing. It took me several months before I could go through any of those motions or rituals. My childhood experiences with people of the church and its liturgies had been discouraging. Eventually, I did attend a church in Manhattan, an anachronism to say the least (beehive hairdo’s, long black dresses on the women, knee thumping gospel, etc.). But after some weekly exposure to the Pentecostal teaching, I was drawn to being water baptized as an adult.

Even then, with little understanding of Christian norms, I knew it was a symbol; it was a personal gesture; it was an act of submission to God; it was an agreement between us; it was my pledge to let go of everything that had gone before and to move forward with God and Christ. It was a “yes.”

Do I believe I could be a Christ follower without the dunking pool? I do. Did it seem odd and a little ridiculous at the time? It did. Was I self-conscious of its process? I was.

But I am not sorry I did it. And in a way, I’m thinking water baptism should be considered as an act that can be done more often, much like communion, as an expression of intent, an agreement, a promise.

This, too, then is a “start-over.” It makes a lot more sense when we re-examine the baptisms that John the Baptist ran before Jesus had even started his ministry. It was a gesture of hope back then too.

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Remade by Spirit

September 14, 2011 by Irmgarde Brown

Painting "Easter Mom" by He Qi

Jesus was remade by the Holy Spirit. Can I be too? Here is faith and submission of the highest order. Not so much facing death and believing in that resurrection into a life after death; that cannot be known or understood. But in this life, now. Restoration. Renewal. Recovery.

I Peter 3:18b
He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

This is really what it’s all about, this life. It’s about discovery of “aliveness” in its totality, integrated with the Holy Spirit, rebound then to God, fully Human.

Why are we waiting until death for this discovery?

We wonder about the miracles. Did they happen? Were they real? Of course they were “real” because they transcended 3D. Christ lived in both worlds and more, in time and out of time.

This was the mystery uncovered. Reboot.

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Love as Brothers

September 10, 2011 by Irmgarde Brown

Of course, not all brothers love each other (or sisters either for that matter), but there is something indelible there. The Amplified translates this phrase: “loving [each other] as brethren [of one household].” The root of believers — operating as a family.

I Peter 3:8
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

For some people, the idea of family is riddled with issues, either because of brutal or emotionally handicapped parents or destructive behaviors by individual siblings. These are not people who will gravitate readily to the idea of a “church family.”

Others have close family relationships and they have a different problem: they know the wonder of strong familial ties and often find a group of believers can rarely engender that kind of closeness or trust.

I guess I’m somewhere in the middle, but probably leaning to the first example. My mother was mentally unstable and I never knew from one day to the next what I would awake to. My father died when I was child and I only had one sibling, five years my senior who left the family home for college and never returned in any kind of meaningful way. It was not until we were adults that we developed a truly mutual relationship. So, I confess, I’m not quick to embrace people with whom I am thrown together because we are affiliated with the same church body. It’s a trust issue, I know. I know.

Here’s what should happen anyway (in theory . . . in my mind): believers are bound to one another by their faith in God. This is actually a blood bond because of the nature of the Christ. It does not flow through our veins, but through our Spirit selves.

According to Peter, spiritually-based relationships should have harmony, sympathy (empathy), compassion, and humility. In general, this means deference to the other, concern for the other, sensitivity to the other, and willingness to compromise.

Wait a minute. We could be doing this all the time, church or no church; family or no family; believer or no believer.

These are the basics of “human.” These are the essential ingredients to relationships of all types: with strangers, lovers, or even casual acquaintances. Basics. Love of the first order. Love without strings. Love without labels.

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Peter’s Women

September 8, 2011 by Irmgarde Brown

Sarah? I’m to emulate Sarah, wife of Abraham, a major control freak who convinced her husband to take his servant/concubine [Hagar] to bed in order to “get on” with God’s promise already. Culture prevailed (a norm). And so it was with Peter’s women.

I Peter 3:3a, 4, 6a
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, . . . Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. . . like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master.

All right, I’m sorry, but as many of you know, most of the female to male submission passages are hard on my digestion. It’s not that I don’t want to show respect to my husband as a person, I do; I should. I certainly don’t denigrate him to others, and after almost 30 years of marriage, I think we’ve worked out a lot marriage kinks (leaving others for heaven’s explanations).

It’s also lovely to be reminded by Peter that a person’s beauty (male or female, I believe) comes from within. It has to so; otherwise, the aging process would send us all to the looney bin. Love, marriage, friendship: they all have to be rooted and grounded in the “person” who resides inside the body, who is eternally young and vital, who is not of this three dimensional world.

Since the whole idea of marriage or male & female appears to be a non-issue “in” heaven [see both Matthew 22:29-30 & Galatians 3:28], men and women are seen equally by God, doesn’t that truth balance out this very specific teaching of Peter (that same Peter who hedged and refused to eat with gentiles in the face of certain powerful Jews)?

Peter was asked constantly by God to think outside the box (creatively & innovatively). He broke several essential Jewish laws when he entered the home of Cornelius and shared both the gospel of Christ as well as a meal with gentiles. He left his wife and family to follow Jesus for months at a time. He challenged his own belief in miracles, tried walking on water, shared in the multiplication of food, and experienced the transfiguration. Everywhere he turned, Jesus stretched and pulled him away from the norm of the day. And for a long while, he allowed his beloved Master to take him there.

But Peter was also a slave to his culture. He was no different from the other disciples, mostly unidentified, who marveled and wondered at the relationships that Jesus had with women, from the woman at the well to the woman who washed his feet with her tears and hair to Mary of Magdala, one cursed and healed of seven demons.

Both the liberal view and the conservative view of women can be found in scriptures. What do I believe? Which verses will corroborate my presuppositions?

The last time I encountered the bold words of Paul and his passages on submission of wives to their husbands [Ephesians 5:21-32], I accepted their literalness but took a pass on embracing them purely on a male/female basis. Instead, I chose, instead, mutual submission, which I still believe to be more fitting. So, I do the same today.

We could all argue until we are blue in the face about these passages. It’s not worth it. Instead, I’ll opt for that gentle and quiet spirit and may it yield an unfading beauty that transcends human interpretations, mandates, and rules about being a Christian woman and wife. Selah.

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Unjust Suffering

September 5, 2011 by Irmgarde Brown

Really, I have been spared a good deal of suffering. Oh, I have known emotional apocalypses and stress, but generally, my body has not known deep pain, depravity, or paucity. And yet, I’m still downright cranky about personal injustice and fairness.

I Peter 2:21b-22a
But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, . . .

I’m not exactly sure but it seems that I am fearful that an injustice towards me will diminish me. It’s as though that other person’s opinion will be believed by others and soon, there will be a posse of people corrupting my reputation. But why do I care? If I know that I have done the best I could, if I know I intended well and desired only a good outcome, if I was honest with others and myself and as fair as I could be, what does it matter what other people think? Why do we allow these situations to become a type of “personal suffering.” This is not what is meant in these verses, I’m sure.

No. But I am thinking that sickness and disease, in general, are sufferings extended to both believers and non-believers. Illness is no respecter of persons, and it is only one’s response to afflictions that identifies appropriated grace. In the end, disease, pain, and illness are basically unjust. I really doubt anyone in particular “deserves” to be sick anymore than anyone in particular deserves to be healthy or wealthy or content.

Life is a challenge for everyone.

I tried to teach my children this truth. We all carry some kind of adversity in our lives, whether it’s disabling disease, mental chaos, or other limitations. These are the circumstances of our lives that color our evolution as human. And there are a few givens that are totally out of our control: parents, home, country, race, etc.

Some years ago, a family in our church went from one devastation to another, first the teenaged daughter was in a grotesque one car accident from which she was not supposed to recover. While the girl was in recovery, the mother developed cancer. While the mother was in treatment, the father lost his job. These were lovely people who appeared to have collected much more than their fair share suffering in a span of a couple of years. We cannot know the why. Not really, without our words sounding like so many platitudes.

Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a wonderful book over twenty years ago, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. I consider this a must read for anyone who has suffered physically or emotionally. And I’m sure there are others who have covered this topic.

So, in response to Peter’s words, I can only say, “I have a long way to go.” I am grateful for the work of the Christ, but I am weak in my body and mind in the face of pain or potential pain. Forgive me.

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