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Posts Tagged ‘disciple’

Cool Cup of Water

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

cool waterIt’s such a small thing, to give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, and yet, we are asked to do this very small act. Matthew records Jesus’s words this way [Matthew 10:42, CEB] “I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.”

If we profess to be followers of Christ Jesus, then the norm is acts of giving in times of need. It’s being aware of need. It’s recognizing need in our midst, whether it’s holding a baby when the Mom is tired or picking up trash on a neighbor’s yard or taking someone to the airport or the doctor or to the grocery store. A cup of water is symbolic for a response to need.

Not terribly convenient this type of giving. But what is even more amazing is that each and every one of these acts of kindness, done in the name of Jesus, merits a reward. Not that we do these things for the reward, but listen, it’s a promise. It’s God’s way of saying thanks.

It’s the same with any giving, from actions to offerings to tithing. Anything given, particularly those things we do without fanfare, bless the Spirit of God. And when God smiles, although it is not something we can see, there is a ripple effect, a passing puff of air, just a little more light [Matthew 6:1-4}

 

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Whom Shall I Send?

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

who will goThe scripture designated for this seventh day of Advent is the entire chapter of Isaiah 6. It is not for the faint-hearted. For my purposes, I have selected the most well known:

Then I heard the Lord’s voice saying, “Whom should I send, and who will go for us?”
I said, “I’m here; send me.” [Isaiah 6:8, CEB]

It all sounds so romantic. God calling out to the people and asking for a volunteer. In our minds’ eye, we imagine our hands shooting up in wonderful abandon. “Me, me, send me!” Or not.

I remember the first time I heard a missionary from Africa (I forget which country now, it was so long ago) telling his tales of serving in some remote villages. He told stories of wonder and miracles, even the raising of a dead man. I listened in awe. And then he asked the audience, who would like to return with me? Who will go? Some part of me wanted to go. Nothing was really in my way except for funds. I was single at the time and only just left New York and I was living back in Indianapolis. And yet, I sat and wept. He came to me after the service. We both knew I was to go, but he would not encourage me or discourage me. He simply asked why I cried. And I confessed, I could not face the fear of the unknown and the death of all the rest of my dreams, sketchy though they were. I still mourn that decision in many ways for I know that was a fork in my road.

All of this is not to say that I am sorry for the life I have lived. And I know, as we all know, that there have been many more turning points and many more forks in the path.

But let us not fool ourselves. Sending and going are serious business.

In Isaiah’s case, even moreso, because he knew from the outset that none would hear the words nor believe him. The language, in English, is confusing as it sounds like God is commanding the people not to hear. But that is not quite the sense of the meaning. It’s the outcome that is described: the people will not listen, they will not understand, they will not see the signs. And yet, Isaiah, knowing this from the beginning, went anyway.

For us, success in the things of God is not the outcome but the intent. Our faithfulness is to the mission, not the achievements. Another mystery in a culture of ambition and striving, accumulating the most toys, having the biggest house, or filling our closets with shoes and our garages with cars.

If Jesus had that ethos and taught his disciples differently, who would ever go?

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Beatitude

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2012| 2 Comments »

I looked it up, the word, beatitude. It actually comes from the Latin word, beātitūdō, which means perfect happiness. I was already suspect with the idea of “perfect,” not to mention the leap to my struggle with perfectionism. Add the expectation of happiness, a most elusive beast [it’s right up there with joy], and I feel like the entire premise is a prescription for failure.

Matthew 5:1-3a
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Blessed are . . .

Of course, it gets worse before it gets better. Most people have the general understanding of the beatitudes. They know it’s a list of blessings based on a series of paradoxical statements. In other words, be perfectly happy when you are poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, and pure in heart while peacemaking and being persecuted. Now, if that doesn’t make you want to jump up and follow Jesus, what will?

I’m only kidding, of course. But really, the beatitudes feel like the high end of understanding and following Jesus. Despite professing the Christ for over thirty years, I break out in a sweat when I have to revisit the beatitudes. They seem to uncover me or reveal me in a way that nothing else in scripture does. I feel like I need to go to a meeting, stand up and say, “Hi, I’m Irmgarde, and I’m not living out the beatitudes.”

You know, the implication is that this was the summary teaching, the preview of everything that came later. Jesus ultimately walked out these seven verses [Matthew 4:3-10] in the next three years of his ministry. And all the while, he’s saying, this is the way despite what you may think or see. Here is the real freedom. Here is answer to what it means to be fully human.

Let’s all pause and think about that today.

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Servant of God; Apostle of Christ

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Another translation has “bond-servant of God,” or one who is bound to service without a promise of recompense or compensation. Too often, people serve their gods with an expectation of a result, an ROI (return on investment). Doesn’t work that way.

Titus 1:1
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—

There are promises from God for the elect (those who follow and serve), but those promises are on God’s terms, not ours. All things come through grace, therefore, whatever is given is a gift and not deserved in some way, no matter how “good” we are, how righteously we behave, how pious.

In Paul’s case, he defines himself as one of these bond-servants but also as an apostle, a messenger, expected to share the knowledge of the Christ imparted to him or her. Not everyone is an apostle. And yet, if we believe, as I do, that Christ is the long-awaited Messiah, then I am to tell my story (to testify). This is not about insisting that my story is better than your story. I tell because my life changed and the course I was on in my late twenties developed an unexpected fork in the road and I was able to choose a different way.

Some people, particularly Christians, forget that they have dual responsibilities. They might jump in with both feet into the messenger business, in the name of Christ, but often they forget their agreement to bonded service to God. There are some who serve God but have not recognized the Messiah part of their journey.

We have both identities and both roles, like in a family, I am a mother and a wife; in my job, I am both a librarian and a manager; in the Church, I am both a penitent and a teacher. Each role is served by the other, each task made richer by the other.

Let me be mindful of all of my dual roles today and in particular, by service to God and my message on behalf of the Christ.

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Saved from What? Again

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2011| 3 Comments »

Photo by Roy Mac

A friend of mine derisively asked me what traditional Christians believed they were being saved from? She, who believes more so in the oneness of all things and the greater gestalt of body, mind, & soul, has no reason to entertain an eventual end result of hell. Is that what salvation is all about: “not” hell and “yes” heaven?

I Timothy 4:16
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

It’s not quite so simple for me. I mean, I believe in a God that is so not like us that we can’t fathom what God IS. Why else would God say, “I am that I am” [Exodus 3:4]. God is non-dimensional in a human sense and because God probably dwells in a non-dimensional or other-dimensional world (for lack of a better term), is that heaven? Or is that simply not our world?

Then, to complicate matters, some of this non-dimensional space exists within us — that’s the “kingdom within” stuff.

“Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is within you.’ “[Luke 17:20-21]

Isn’t the kingdom heaven? Yes. Within . . . and without. Because God is greater than my interior self or my personal piece of the Holy Spirit.

So what is hell then? Well, it’s certainly NOT any of those things. It’s not experiencing the kingdom within or without. It’s not being aware of personal spirit, much less Holy Spirit. It’s a separation. The question is whether there is sentience (awareness, mental perception, consciousness) after the body stops working, after the body dies. Is it hell because the self knows it is separated? [See the story of Lazarus, a poor man who begged at the gate of a rich man every day. Lazarus died and went to heaven while the rich man died and went to hell – and knew it. Luke 16:19-31]

Christ says the way of the personal spirit, the soul if you will, is easy after “body death” when it’s connected to a “host.” We are literally invited to become parasitic and leech off the Holy Spirit as much as we want. I know these terms are generally used in a negative sense, but think about it. And for interest’s sake, I found that one of the synonyms for parasite is follower or apostle as well as bootlicker, sycophant and servant.

“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” [I Timothy 2:3-4]

Knowledge of the truth is awareness of the way.

To be saved then is to discover the inner way and to be conscious of it, to choose to jump on the back of the Host. Once attached and embedded, then Self is redirected and desire is born to love, to help, to enlighten, to listen, to bear, to hope, to renew, to persist, to expand, to glow, to know, and to become transparent.

There are a lot of people who are bashing Rob Bell for his latest book called “Love Wins.” Lots of hype. But it’s interesting to me to discover how many people are angry that he is saying that Love might be so powerful that it will become the ultimate paradox and break open the gates of hell. God is Love and God provided the Christ to reveal the mystery of the love message and the Holy Spirit to work the message in our lives.

In the early days of my Christian walk, I cringed when well-meaning people in passionate church settings would ask me if I’d been saved. I had no idea what they were talking about except for some vague sense of possibly escaping the fires of Dante’s Inferno if I asked Jesus into my heart. Asking Jesus into one’s heart is only effective if we latch on tight to the Host. Life is a rodeo. And hell is a tsunami of the soul.

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Do Everything in Love

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , on July 7, 2010| 2 Comments »

No matter what we do, we are admonished to do it all in love. It is unfortunate that the “love” message has gotten so watered down by our current culture. That’s so simplistic, we might think. It’s so 60’s. It’s so “new age.” We miss the power.

I Corinthians 16:13-14
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.

The more I study, the more sure I am that love is the bottom line. If there was love in our words and actions, so much would come out differently.

Intending to love and actually loving are different. The first one doesn’t really count.

I keep reminding myself that love is about “other.” Love is not just a soft feeling. As the saying goes, “love is a verb.” It might only take a moment to ask myself the question, how are my words and actions speaking and demonstrating love? Is it in my voice quality? Is it in my facial expression. Is it in my touch? Is in my choice of words? Is it in my heart?

Is love in my work?

In verse 16:13, Paul has a string of encouragements about strength and courage. Isn’t it interesting that these would be partnered with doing everything in love? Apparently, these qualities are part of the love quotient.

To love in the face of “no love” is far more difficult than any other human act.

Will I stand for love today? Will I be strong? Will I have courage to love? And harder still, can I love without payback? Like everyone else, I want to be loved too. I want to be cared for and appreciated and nurtured. I want to be complimented and admired. I want to be known.

But we’re back to paradox. I’m sure of it. To be loved, I must love…. in everything. So simple.

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Wholeheartedness

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2010| 1 Comment »

In Paul’s time, wholeheartedness meant more than just enthusiasm or sincerity. It was a single minded devotion; it was the whole spirit in focus. Only God knows if we are wholehearted in our faith.

Romans 1:9-10a
God, whom I [Paul] serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times…

As the information age took over the past decade, one of the initial assumptions was that everyone would have to be able to multi-task. There is so much to see and so much to read. The only way to capture it all was to have lots of “views” and “tabs” and “screens.” It was not uncommon for a computer owner to have multiple monitors or a monitor so big that a number of images could be displayed simultaneously. Time management was the buzzword and the goal was to eke out productivity from every available second. We were like teenagers convinced we could listen to music, watch television, play a video game, and do homework all at the same time. Good grades were the proof it worked.

Interestingly enough, this trend is actually abating. Some of the latest productivity gurus are now advocating single focus. They say, do one thing completely and with full attention, and work gets done faster and more accurately. A divided mind is like “RAM” in a computer, only so much can be allotted to each task. The brain’s computing power does have limitations.

How often do people say they cannot pray or meditate effectively because of a racing mind that continues to juggle a vast array of responsibilities, plans, and duties. We are actually losing the ability to be single-focused.

Currently, one of my spiritual disciplines is praying the hours (Morning, Midday, Vespers, and Night). This practice is only four times a day when I am to shut out everything else to read, chant, and pray. Ten minutes. And yet, my day gets sucked up into “busy-ness,” and I miss my time. There is no condemnation for missing. There is just loss of what God was ready to give in that moment.

Wholeheartedness and single focus is a time investment. It’s a discipline. It’s a commitment to whatever is before me. Today has potential for wholeheartedness… if I give way.

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