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Posts Tagged ‘Grace’

Love as Brothers

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2011| 2 Comments »

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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Chosen Blues

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 30, 2011| 3 Comments »

I’m not feelin’ anything ’bout bein’ chosen today.
I say, I’m not feelin’ anything ’bout bein’ chosen today.
I’m wonderin’ then, is the good Lord tellin’ me a different way?

I Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

I used to get a lot of comfort from being “chosen.” I guess it just came along with the package of being saved. That was how I was taught: God chose me, like an adopted child, I was pulled from the fray.

So, why, after thirty years of contentment, am I uncomfortable now? Why does it feel a little uppity and “I’m better than you” [see Urban Dictionary]. Gosh, I could get a coffee mug with that phrase or I could put WWJD on it or some other Christian cliche. Is there a difference? I’m in and you’re out; Red Rover, Red Rover, let one more of my friends come over.

Can I put a spin on this that won’t be catty?

Maybe it’s a privilege thing. I get some clarity and because of it, I can share what I see. It’s a responsibility thing?

I guess, I am more comfortable in the thanksgiving mode: thank you God for saving my soul. And it weren’t for You, I’d probably be dead. My twenties were a downward spiral because I was experiencing the other kind of blues: the “non-chosen” blues for not being in the right group, not getting chosen for parts on plays, not being a success, not handling my relationships well, etc. When I experienced the Christ, I didn’t feel particularly chosen then either, just switched over to a different game where those other situations didn’t matter as much.

Just because I’m sure that I’m sure that I’m sure that God is real and Christ is real and the Holy Spirit is real and I have a chance to “become” in a way that I never could before or ever wanted to before, does make me want to talk about it and write about it, but chosen?

Of course, I know God is sovereign and maybe there is a “choosing” dimension to all of this. But for now . . . I’ll leave the discussion to others.

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Be Holy

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 24, 2011| 1 Comment »

Oh sure, be holy. That directive is right up there with “be skinny” or “be successful.” These states of being take a lot of work and commitment. I’m pretty sure holiness is no cakewalk either.

I Peter 1:15-16
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy. [Leviticus 11:44]”

I understand there’s a lot of grace involved in holiness (certainly a lot more than I have ever found in exercise or dieting). And yet, there are disciplines that must be part of the equation. If we just model holiness after Christ, there are keys to follow: sacrificial living, prayer, purity, authenticity, transparency, study, relationships with God and others, and paradoxical behaviors (as I’ve mentioned many times before).

We don’t come to these things naturally. Practice.

If I could just pick any one of these processes and focus on it, I’m pretty sure I would make more progress. But, unfortunately, I bounce around from one big idea to another, one practice to another. It’s an A.D.D. kind of thing. It’s a “Jill of all trades” kind of thing. For those of you familiar with the enneagram, it’s a “seven” kind of thing.

On the refrigerator, a well meaning friend posted a magnetic plaque that reads: “From your lips right to your hips.” Would it help me to put a little reminder on my computer: “Holiness begins with mindfulness and is watered with grace.”

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The Grace of Him to Come

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 23, 2011| 3 Comments »

If salvation is believing and loving the Christ without direct contact but still appropriating the benefits (covering of sin that separates us from God), that is Grace. And apparently, the old guys knew about it and were waiting for the manifestation of Him. We’ve lost the wonder that comes with waiting.

I Peter 1:10-11
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

Am I alone in taking for granted the marvel and mystery of God’s appearance in Christ to reunite human with Spirit, to recreate relationship, to begin a new age of life through the inner presence of the Holy Spirit, to inspire and encourage the walking out of paradoxes like loving enemies, giving to receive, and dying to live?

The prophets were all waiting in expectation of a “new earth” through the appearance of the Messiah/Christ. The prophets tried to prepare the way, but many of their prophecies were misinterpreted over the years. As a result, later generations began looking for a military leader, a benevolent dictator, a king of kings. The people lost discernment of the spiritual revolution that was foretold. Even Jesus’s disciples could not get a handle on the mission until after Christ’s resurrection, the greatest mystery of all, despite the predictions.

Supposedly, believers of today are waiting for a second return of Christ. But I think most of this is lip service: we may even “talk this talk” but few tangibly believe it. Besides, when someone does get the notion of an imminent second coming, he (or she) is considered a kook (and, by the way, rightly so — for now).

We’ve lost the ability to wait with anticipation. With true waiting for something huge like the second coming of Christ, there should be truth searching, longing, intense investigation, escalating hope, growing expectation, and discovery all along the way. It’s been too drawn out. We have become almost cavalier. Or, at the least, in our current time.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m lumping myself in this same group and mindset. The last time I felt true expectation in my heart and soul was on our trip to Europe to adopt our children; or perhaps, when I was a child myself. Children know about eager waiting.

Our kids give us a peek at that kind of excitement regularly. Just look at young people before the holidays or at teens before a prom. They know the basics of these events, but the particulars cannot be known until the actual day. And so, they wait and wonder and enjoy. Unfortunately, for adults, keen anticipation rolls into a disappointment at the event itself.

For the last two thousand years, we have been living the event. We are part of the promise. We have been given the keys to the mystery of the ages, the Grace of God in Christ. But time has eroded our wonder. Interpretations and habits and silos of belief (e.g. denominations) have worn away the impact of the reunion between God and Human. We’ve grown bland and insipid, much like the church of Laodicea [Revelation 3:14-21].

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! [Revelation 2:4-5a]

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Generous with Wisdom

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 16, 2011| 4 Comments »

Photo by P Dorowski

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m pretty clear that my wisdom quotient (WQ) is way below my IQ. Doesn’t everyone need more wisdom? Is there such a thing as too wise? Don’t think so.

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

So, why don’t I ask for wisdom every day? There are so many things I put before my God: guidance, help, protection, transformation, and so on. But I don’t specifically ask for wisdom. Wouldn’t that particular answered prayer help with all the other ones? Doh!

Based on James, God doesn’t find fault or hold back wisdom in the face of our mistakes. God doesn’t say, “No wisdom for you today, you’ve made too many mistakes.” There’s a lot of grace, then, in the gift of wisdom. It’s a helper, just like Eve was intended to be in the first story about men and women.

I’ve often wondered if Solomon was disappointed with his gift of wisdom and simply stopped using it? I mean, how else does a person go from doing everything right to accumulating so many women (700 wives & 300 concubines) and so much stuff that he finally tears the kingdom in two by the time of his death. Clearly, his WQ hit rock bottom by then.

I’m wondering today, is wisdom a like Manna? Does it have to be refreshed each day, given each day anew, or it becomes corrupt if someone tries to hold on to it beyond the time, the moment, the day?

I could really use some wisdom just to get through this night. And tomorrow, I think I’ll check in on the wisdom handout again. Thank you God.

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Bitter Roots

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Grace is everything. If I could only grasp the full power of grace every day, nothing could cause lasting harm. Grace diffuses anger, despair, disappointments and resentments which all fuel bitterness. And bitterness hurts everyone.

Hebrews 12:15
Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it. [Amplified]

For some years I worked with the Elijah House ministries; I read many of the John and Paula Sandford books, I participated in the Basic School which taught the essentials of prayer for healing and how to recognize and address bitter root judgments. I met with my own counselor for several years.

So many early bitter roots are like persistent weeds in the garden that grow very deeply in the soil. They cannot be merely cut at ground level, they must be pulled out, otherwise, they will tend to grow back, sometimes larger, stronger, and even deeper than before.

Hurtful instances in our past act in the same way and can derail a life. My own life was on a treadmill of resentments about situations that were mostly outside my direct control: my father’s alcoholism and death when I was a child, my mother’s mental illness, our relative poverty, my brilliant brother, just to name a few. I had an internal tirade always playing in my head: why these parents, why this family, why this city, why this school, why this husband, and why this body. And the follow up to “why” became “if only” — if only I had more money, if only I had a different family, etc. The litany was endless. And each verse dug my roots in deeper and deeper.

When I began the healing process of allowing the Spirit to weed my garden heart, I thought I would explode into a million pieces. I had held on to those issues for so long that I didn’t know who I would be without them.

Although I was able to release many of my old hurts and habits, I recognize now that a life picks up other hurts along the way. Not all bitter roots come from childhood or even teen years, they can find yummy soil ten years ago or five or even yesterday. How deeply they are planted and how much I water my bitter roots will determine how easily they can be removed.

This is where grace comes in, through the love and power of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Messiah, and the intention of God to make all things well.

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Taste Heavenly Gifts

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Of all the senses, I find it fascinating that the writer of Hebrews uses taste twice in the same sentence to describe the human experience of the things of God, that is the heavenly gift and word of God. That sense we use every day when eating but rarely do modern believers “taste” God.

Hebrews 6:4-6a
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance . . .

Even back in Psalms [34:8], we are encouraged to “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him,” or in verse 119:103, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! ”

There must be something then about the intimacy of eating and tasting that is particular to the Word of God (both Jesus Himself [“eat of my body and drink of my blood” John 6:52] and the words imparted to us through scriptures), as well as the heavenly gift (which could be any number of things, but in my mind, it’s pure grace).

Just a cursory glance through commentaries about these verses shows many have decried and argued and professed to know what they really mean. I can’t begin to make such a claim. I don’t even want to discuss what it might be to taste these things and then, by virtue of “falling away,” losing access to repentance. The whole idea gives me the heeby-geebies. The texts that fall on both sides of the aisle are numerous from the simplified “once saved, always saved,” to the stricter interpretation of “human will” to the more Calvinist interpretation that all human acts fall under the express sovereignty and rule of God. I realize there are issues here.

But what about this taste business? If I just focus on this one piece of information, this one phenomenon, I believe there is something here for me today that can transcend all of the rhetoric and apologetics.

Taste is a matter of detection, discovery and discernment. Everyone responds to foods differently, depending on the sophistication of their palate. Some people have affinities for certain tastes and aversion to others. On average, the human tongue has between 2,000 to 8,000 taste buds. It’s highly personal and individualistic.

And so, here’s my small point: when we taste the things of God, we all have a different experience. For some, it is a rich, sweet taste and suffuses the mind. For others, something else, like savory [or to use the latest word, umami] and maybe, depending on the circumstances, even bitter or sour or salty.

But in any case, the taste is strong and unique. Like the spelled “turkish delight” that drove Edmund in the Lion, Witch & the Wardrobe to make all kinds of poor choices, the taste of heavenly things is intimately memorable. I’m guessing or supposing that the taste sense somehow brings into sharp focus the other senses so that what is seen or heard or touched suddenly has a much needed added dimension.

Perhaps the next time I sit at a meal and pray a blessing on the food, I might add a silent prayer to expand my understanding of tasting the things of God.

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