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Posts Tagged ‘Paul’

A Single Command

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

Photo by Vincent Rodriguez

Despite the simplicity of the command, there is still quibbling: Who is my neighbor? What is love? What if I don’t love myself? Who am I? What is my purpose? And the next thing we know, the focus is back on me and not about my neighbor at all.

Galatians 5:14
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18].

Some people have found some peace and revelation by asking the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” By asking this to themselves, they are able to adjust their responses, their behaviors, and so forth. Personally, I don’t really know what Jesus would do, I mean, not really. But I do know, without a doubt, whether or I not I want someone to say or behave toward me as I have done to them.

Here’s what I do for myself out of self-care. I keep myself clean, fed, clothed, and sheltered. I work to earn enough money to provide for my needs as well as several non-essential desires. I choose how to use my time. I entertain myself with people, books, technology, music, daydreams, and outings. On good days, I take care of my body through exercise. I sleep to ensure I am rested. I spend time with my young adult children, relatives, and friends, but pretty much on my terms and time table. These are the outward benefits.

Internally, I am usually kind to myself, I give myself encouragement and pep talks, I pray for my circumstances, friends, and family, I soothe myself, and I forgive myself (although I’m not very good at it).

Nonetheless, is there any reason to withhold any of these things from others? Where is the stumbling block? I think it goes back to judging. I look at others and instead of seeing the “sacred,” I see differences that separate us. I imagine that the same things that comfort me may not comfort them. Or, there’s another voice that complains about their abuse of whatever I might give: money spent on something frivolous, junk food instead of “nutritious” food, alcohol instead of milk, and so forth. I judge before the gift is out of my hands.

Forgive me for putting a silo around myself.

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Yeast in Dough

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I should write a book: “My Favorite Bible Metaphors.” There are a zillion ways that Jesus used to communicate with the people about faith and the Kingdom of God from seeds to light to fish to sheep to salt to cooking. These word pictures were then passed down through stories. They still work today.

Galatians 5:7, 9
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? . . . “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”

One of my good friends bakes bread several times a week to provide this staple for her family. Her father baked it for their family when she was growing up and it’s a tradition she has continued. Whenever I think of yeast-rising bread, I think of her.

I did my own stint at bread making some years ago. At first, the hand method (which is preferable) and eventually to a bread machine. The smell would envelop our house. I actually gave up the practice because my husband and I were devouring a loaf a day and our waists followed suit. But it might be time, with teens in the house, to return to this simple practice of adding yeast, working dough, watching it rise, and then shaping into a tasty loaf. There’s something a little “zen” about it.

Bread of all kinds is staple for all cultures. Everyone understands the yeast/dough image. It only takes a small amount of yeast to transform bread from flour, salt and water. Yeast affects all the dough. It too transforms itself to have the effect.

As a metaphor, it is a simple message. In Galatians, Paul refers to the “yeast” of a misleading but charismatic preacher who was drawing the original Christ believers back toward Jewish law, particularly circumcision.

It only takes one person to change a group. It only takes one to deadlock a jury. It only takes one to break consensus. It only takes one to undermine a team. It only takes one to start a war. But it also works the other way, it can be the one who motivates a group to higher challenges, or one to bring a family back together, or one to inspire a nation, or one to raise the flag of peace, or one to be the watchman crying out a warning.

Many years ago, I was on a women’s retreat and we were all assigned to a certain discussion group that would meet and discuss the teaching sessions. (For those in the know, this format is used in a variety of parachurch organizations like Cursillo, Walk to Emmaus, Tres Dias, and so forth.) The first day I was sure I was assigned to the wrong group. Each woman came with so much baggage, even the assigned facilitators were a mess. The first couple of discussion sessions were painfully dull or fraught with misunderstandings and confusion. I cried. Can’t anyone see I’m miserable? Can’t I change to that happy group over there? Can’t I be with the fun group on the far side of the room, or the clever group behind us? Finally, God “smacked me up side the head!” And I literally heard a voice from within say, “It’s you! You! You are not being the yeast or the salt.” I had come to that retreat experience with some expectations, not realizing that I wasn’t entering the story. I was sitting back and waiting for story to come to me. When I finally engaged fully and lovingly, everything changed. By the end of that weekend, our group became the most impacted, the most cohesive, warm, and authentic. There was much healing.

Lord, give me courage to be yeast in the right circumstances. And when it’s yeast coming against me, help me jump out of the bowl. 🙂

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Faith Expressed Through Love

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I am surprised again how so many weighty discourses in the Epistles come back around to the one foundational element that is the under girding of a believer’s life: love. My faith is nothing if it isn’t reflected through the words and actions of love. And not just the actions or words themselves, but the intent.

Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

I think too many Christians (including me) get caught up in all things “should.” I should be praying more, I should be working with the poor in the inner city, I should be attending church every Sunday, I should be volunteering at the church, I should teach at Vacation Bible School, I should go on a mission trip, I should be tithing and so on and on and on.

The flip side: I should not be watching R rated movies, I should not be cursing, I should not be reading fantasy or horror or literature with bad words in it, I should not be listening to New Age music or Rock and Roll or God forbid–HipHop or Rap, I should not wear a bikini, I should not go out with non-believers, I should not be in debt, I should not buy a 2500 square foot house with 3.5 bathrooms while people are starving in “pick a place,” I should not watch television, and of course, the “should not” list can much longer than the “shoulds.”

Here’s my point. I could do any or all of these things the right way and still miss Jesus. I could follow all the shoulds and the should nots and still be without the peace of Christ. If love is not there binding my heart and soul to the action or inaction, I am kidding myself and the people I serve.

Many of the “shoulds” are important and are examples of how the love of Christ might manifest. And, in the same breath, the “should nots” may be red flags in our lives that our path is being diverted away from a better way. But in an of themselves, they are not the litmus test of my faith.

I want an inner life so rich in Christ that the “should nots” are a non-issue and the “shoulds” are a natural outgrowth of that love, devotion, and relationship with the Spirit within.

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Child of the Free Woman

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Does it matter–our genealogy? our heritage? our family line? In scripture, it’s recorded in many ways as quite significant, from the “begats” in Matthew to the repetitive list of kings and their fathers and their fathers. Am I a child of the promise, a child of the free woman?

Galatians 4:31
Therefore, brothers [and sisters], we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Paul goes into a longish discussion of the “figurative” nature of Hagar (the slave woman) and Sarah (the free), who bore children, one “naturally” and the other as the result of a God-promise and power of the Spirit (a supernatural birth). The slave child (and subsequent generations) is born to a time and place in history, while the implication is that the child (and following generations) is of a “new Jerusalem,” a place out of time.

Despite the fact that Sarah and Abraham are usually considered the “father and mother” of the Jews (who we know followed the law), now the focus is on the next step when the Abrahamic children come into their true inheritance. The long-awaited Messiah was part of the promise, the miracle of Isaac. Christ too was born supernaturally. (Isaac was born from an old woman’s barren womb and Jesus from a very young woman’s virginal womb.)

And just so, because I have accepted that same long-promised Messiah as my Messiah too, I become a child of the free woman, the metaphysical, the kingdom of God. I now have a different genealogy than I did before. This is a truer meaning of “new creation.”

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” [II Corinthians 5:17]

I’m not living in this freedom really. It’s positional only, not internalized. It’s head knowledge, not heart knowledge.

It’s like I’m so close to really understanding the enormity of this truth but not quite. It’s a thought butterfly flitting around my head. I can’t quite grab hold of it. But someday I will. And when I do, I will be changed.

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Behaviors Can Separate

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , on September 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Paul is really pulling my chain in the entire 5th chapter of I Corinthians. I can’t say I’m going to disassociate with folks who are believers and yet behave badly. I’m too close to behaving badly myself. So what can I glean?

I Corinthians 5:11
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.

Basically, whether we are believers or not believers, our behaviors will act like the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter novels. Unconsciously, we tend to either congregate with those who behave similarly or avoid those who don’t. Some behaviors I can simply tolerate. Others I cannot.

I struggle enough with “judging” others without escalating that condition. And yet, if I am personally hurt by someone through one of these negative acts, I don’t think I’d go out of my way to have tea with them either. But I cannot rail against them, for ultimately, I would merely be one of the angry crowd who chased after the woman who was caught in adultery. She had truly done that thing, but Christ offered mercy. Can I do any less?

(This post was started on May 2nd, but not completed until September. Oh well.)

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Become Like Me

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Paul is certainly confident as a prototype for believers: become like me, follow me, imitate me. Paul was a zealot before he met Christ and he was certainly one afterward. I could no more imitate him than I can imitate Christ. Ah, there’s the difference. . .

Galatians 4:12
I plead with you, brothers, become like me, . . .
I Corinthians 4:16
Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
I Corinthians 11:1
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Philippians 3:17
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

To follow Paul is an outside/in method while following Christ is an inside/out endeavor.

Despite the freedoms Paul articulates as a follower of Jesus, having been a Pharisee for many years, he still had a very law-based mentality and world view. He was an administrator, an organizer. He could see how things would work out best. He loved his churches and he loved his people, but he did get frustrated. He was impatient. He continually aimed for perfection (Christ) and condemned himself often (not in a bad way, just as a confession) for missing the mark. He knew he was less than perfect and only Christ within made up the difference. Nonetheless, it was Paul who set up the churches with structure. He was an academic. He laid out the reasons for everything he said. He was a man of logic and reason. I’d say a good portion of our modern day churches have evolved out of the teachings and interpretations of Paul.

But when Jesus calls us to “follow him,” I think he is drawing us to the Kingdom. It is Jesus who consistently lays out the paradoxes of internal following. Everything is the opposite of what we would think: turning the other cheek, loving our enemies, going the extra mile, meekness is victor, weakness is strength and so on.

For Jesus it is not really “become LIKE me,” it’s become ME.

This is much more mysterious. When Jesus taught about “eating his flesh and drinking his blood,” a lot of disciples fled. This entire teaching on Jesus being the “bread of life” terrified most of his followers. [John 6:41-66] They fled because they understood, not because it was beyond them. Every time Jesus spoke bluntly about his intentions, there was an uproar.

With Jesus, what seems impossible is possible; what is lost can be found; what dies can be raised up.

In the face of these kinds of truths, do the outer trappings really matter: Robes or no robes, dunking or sprinkling, wine or grape juice, men or women, buildings or no buildings, and so on.

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” [John 14:20]

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Why Do I Go Back?

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2010| 1 Comment »

I do it all the time. I start a diet, lose weight, and then go back to my old eating habits. I order my space and vow to keep it that way, and before I know it, it’s trashed. I judge someone, ask for forgiveness, and judge again. Am I so weak? I am.

Galatians 4:9
But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

What is the draw of the old way? I guess if I were an alcoholic or drug addict, I would be drinking and shooting up again. It’s destructive behavior and yet it’s familiar. It’s crazy-making [Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.] It’s the path of least resistance.

I am the Israelites in the desert who complained about the new way and wanted to go back to Egypt and slavery: they thought that would be better than their current struggle in the present time [Exodus 16:1-3].

Is it forgetfulness or is it mindlessness? Or both? When God brings change into my life, I am so happy and full of energy. I am clear headed and I see the big picture. I am focused. I am motivated. But once I reach a certain plateau in the process, it’s like hitting a wall. There is no movement forward. I lose track of those initial feelings and strength. Oh, I might try to climb the wall for a bit, I might even try to walk around it. But my drive to persevere is sucked away and I am left with my old self for company.

I say mindlessness because it feels like the opposite of mindfulness. It takes mindfulness to stay aware of the Christ Spirit within and without. It takes effort. It is a special type of wakefulness.

When I was in acting school I learned how to walk a tightrope in our circus class. The clue to tightrope walking is maintaining a focus on the end of the rope, the junction point. As soon as I would take my eyes off that point, I would lose my balance. As I tried to do more complicated maneuvers, it became harder and harder to maintain that focus. My little life is not much different.

Put me back on the tightrope today, with Christ ahead, my focal point.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me. (St. Patrick)

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