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Posts Tagged ‘way of Jesus’

Celibacy, Fasting and Self-denial

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

Who wants to give up anything the body wants or needs? I’ve been investigating the importance of the body as the “Temple of the Holy Spirit” and yet, here is old Paul recommending celibacy as a way of walking out “self-control.” Harumph.

I Corinthians 7:1b
It is well [and by that I mean advantageous, expedient, profitable, and wholesome] for a man not to touch a woman [to cohabit with her] but to remain unmarried. [Amplified]

This Pauline letter must be one of the main sources for the Catholic tradition of celibate priests. A few verses later, Paul even spells it out, “I wish that all men were like I myself am [in this matter of self-control]. But each has his own special gift from God, one of this kind and one of another.” [vs 7:7]

Is this a good thing? I know that fasting, another form of body denial has its place in devotion. It seems that as we deny the body sustenance, there is more time to look inward to the things of spirit. But this conversation is for those who choose these things, for those who choose to be celibate or choose to fast, or choose to deny themselves in other specific ways.

What about those who have no choice? What about the lonely men and women of this world who desperately want relationship and intimacy with another person? What of the couple who no longer have intimacy due to illness or boredom. What of the poor?

God promises a grace to those who are not in a position to choose. These promises can be seen readily in the beatitudes. They are promises of hope in the midst of great loss and deprivation. These were the people he chose to teach first, to reach first.

What happens for the rest of us who much choose seasons of deprivation? We get a taste, a glimpse of both poverty and grace in this arena.

But I want to remember that Paul also says that each person has his/her special gift from God. The key here is knowing what God wants of me. The point is hearing God’s voice, God’s plan for today, for now. Once, God called me to a long fast and I was so deaf, He made bread taste like garbage before I got the message.

Choosing self-denial for the mere sake of it does nothing special. These times must be part of the true call.

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Everything is Permissable BUT . . .

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If anyone thinks that Christianity is not about freedom, he/she is sadly mistaken. Even old Paul says it outright: everything is permitted. Well, all right, there is a proviso, the dogged “but” that does present constraints. And yet, the constraints are upon us to choose.

I Corinthians 6:12
Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power. [Amplified]

I am reminded of that silly Jim Carrey movie, “Bruce Almighty,” in which he is given the power to do anything and everything. At first, he is like a child with paybacks, self-interests, and casual decisions. But eventually, he gets it: his choices affect others. He, too, had to limit his power on purpose. In the end, he was content to give that power back to God.

I can constrain myself each day by choice. I can use my intelligence to determine what is good, expedient, or even logical. I can use my feelings and sensitivity to discern the needs of others. I can use my will to avoid becoming a slave to anything. But truthfully, I’m not very good at it.

Instead, I can put my trust in Christ who can and will navigate all of this for me, if I allow it. I’m not very good at that yet either.

The “let go, let God” cliche is based on this principle of trusting God with the constraints as well as the freedoms. If I could really “get this,” like the Bruce Nelson character, I would know true contentment.

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With You in Spirit

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

How many times have people casually said they can’t be with you, but “I’ll be with you in spirit.” Isn’t that just a nice way to say they’ll be thinking about you? But what if there is more? What if there is potential for power there?

I Corinthians 5:3a
As for my attitude, though I am absent [from you] in body, I am present in spirit, . . .

This section of I Corinthians is not easy for me. It’s a whole mess about sexual sin and “casting the sinner out” of the fellowship for sexual immorality and “handing him over to Satan.” Whoa! I just can’t begin to write about this in any reasonable way.

Instead, I want to consider the possibilities of power that come with being somewhere “in spirit.” Jesus is actually with us “in spirit.” This is not some off hand or incidental description. The presence of the Holy Spirit on earth is transformational. It is the strength of the Spirit that teaches, counsels, and guides us.

Paul implies that his relationship to the believers in Corinth bring his spirit in their midst as well. It is sharing the essence of a person and invoking him/her through ideas, words, and thought.

I imagine my own spirit a little like a pomegranate, with its many, many seeds. Can I give one seed of my spirit to another, to a group, to a place, where I would like to be present? Will my spirit seed make a difference?

I think of all the places I have lived and all the people I have known, paths that have intersected over the years. When it was time to say goodbye, could I consciously leave some small part of myself with them, in love?

In the same way that a parent can divide her heart to love all of her children, no matter how many, so can the spirit divide and divide again. When we give of ourselves in that way, there is actually a multiplication that happens (a paradox). Like a tree that is pruned and more branches grow, so is the deposit of our spirit seeds with others.

Today, I want to think about “being with you in spirit,” being with my kids, in spirit, my husband, my friends, my brother in Denver, my aunt in Germany, my half-sister in Tallinn.

I send them out my spirit like a milkweed seed, lightly and lovingly.

[Special thanks to Amy Lamb for use of her photograph, Milkweed Seed Pod.)]

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It’s All About the Power

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The Amplified Bible translates “power” as the “moral power and excellence of soul.” But I am more inclined to think of power as authority because, from where I sit, authority trumps everything.

I Corinthians 4:19b-20
. . . I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

A person (or government) can acquire authority in a wide variety of ways such as inheritance or violence or even a gift.

When I accepted Christ the Redeemer, I gave the Holy Spirit full authority over me (of course, I keep trying to take back that gift when circumstances are not to my liking). Nonetheless, God does not take over human beings. God must be invited into the heart. That was part of the covenant, the original deal.

Evil, on the other hand, will take any and every opportunity to gain a foothold within. Evil wants to “take over the land,” and rule. Evil is like a cancer that destroys everything in its path, consuming all that is healthy, while removing strength and hope for healing or recovery.

I look around and consider the people who have authority in my life. There are the supervisors and managers at my work, be that a limited authority, because it’s within the confines of employment. I agreed to work there.

Some would say, as a married woman, my husband has authority over me [Ephesians 5:23 & I Corinthians 11:3]. I’ve never been particularly comfortable with this teaching based on position alone. However, like giving authority to Christ, it would be up to me to “give” authority to my husband for any power to have value. And if, like Christ, my husband sacrifices his life/desires for the family, undoubtedly the gift is easier to give. [Ephesians 5:28-29]

In our society, I agree to allow certain servants of the state to have authority over me: police, elected officials, etc. By living in a land of laws, I agree to give those laws the power to classify right from wrong, with consequences. When I vote, I agree to give authority to the winner of an election process.

In some countries, authority is wrenched from the people by violence and maintained through fear. When it is stripped from a person in this way, it is very difficult to believe in a loving invitation from God who desires control of the inner life while the despots control the outer life. I am grateful I do not live in such an environment. I am free to choose in both inner and outer arenas.

But what about my own authority? Do I allow others to choose to be under my authority or am I using “control” to lasso followers? Are my children under my authority willingly? My pets? My staff?

Jesus offered himself and his power draped in love: a truly benevolent dictator who can command the heavens as well as the heart. But without love, this kind of power doesn’t work. Love is the fuel. Jesus spent his lifetime teaching this message by example, by teaching, by humility.

The flow of power manifests as miracles and healings but it must be preceded by love. Only as we offer sacrificial love to others will there be true power or true authority to wield.

Why would I trust you with power if I don’t believe you love me?

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A Way of Life

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

A popular phrase among the younger generation of believers is that they are following the “way of Jesus.” In essence, Paul asks for the same thing, but simply calls it a way of life . . . “the life.” On that way, we are transformed.

I Corinthians 4:16-17a
Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, . . .

This way is all about our responses: how we react to challenges along that path.

I’d like to say I do well in this regard, but that would really cause my Pinocchio nose to grow. It’s not that I don’t want to be on the way. I do. I can even say with confidence that I am on this way. I just don’t seem to be going in a straight line.

The way includes a lot of the “turn the other cheek” stuff. It includes accepting my current situation and making the best of it. In means “When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.” [I Cor 4:12b-13a] We love.

There must be a moment of transcendence when things like persecution or even success no longer matter, when Spirit trumps 3-D.

But right now, all my cares and troubles and disappointments are causing tremendous stress. A woman friend I have know since I was three years old called me the other day. She told me she has stage 3 breast cancer. She’s fighting hard. The thing that makes her most angry, she said, was that she was so damn “healthy” up until then. She didn’t smoke or drink. She worked out regularly. She was happily married. She had a good job and a successful son. She had wealth and security. And yet, her life was filled with stress: staying on top of it all, doing the right thing at the right moment, working 7 days a week and long hours, juggling family and work, and racing from one thing to another. She believes the stress made her sick.

This is not the life. This is not the way.

Practicing the presence of God is an exchange: replacing the normal brain hi-jinks with Spirit.

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What’s wrong with this picture?

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2010| 1 Comment »

Paul is a little testy with the Corinthians in Chapter 4. He compares his lifestyle with theirs. It would be like comparing Mother Teresa’s lifestyle with mine. Indeed, what is wrong with this picture?

I Corinthians 4:8a, 9a
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! . . . For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena.

I was uncomfortable reading Paul today. After all, he’s writing to me just as much as he’s writing to the Corinthians. Compared to the poor of the world, I am living a king’s life. Compared to the relative wealth in any third world country, I am still living like royalty. In Africa, the villager measures wealth by land and cattle and food to eat. In America, we measure wealth by extraneous “toys” like electronics, paper money, investments, cars, and multiple bathrooms in a house.

This is still my stumbling block. It always has been and until my life changes, it will continue to be a plank in my eye [Luke 6:42].

I am afraid to be poor again.

How many times have a I sat in a Bible study or small group and talked about our wealth? We nod our heads and agree it’s problematic, but then we all return to our three and four bedroom houses with two and a half baths and two cars sitting in the driveway. Minimum.

Or, to make ourselves feel better, we drag out the Biblical examples of the wealthy who were close to Jesus: Joseph of Arimathea (who gave up his tomb for Jesus) or Zacchaeus, the tax collector, who climbed a tree to see Jesus and entertained him that night (oh, wait, he gave a way huge portions of his accumulated wealth that day).

Honestly, there’s no getting around it. Our wealth is a type of sin. We can tithe 10%, 15%, or even 20% and still we are carefully holding and caring and multiplying the remainder.

Oh, we say it’s only the “love of money” that is sin [I Timothy 6:10]. So, I don’t “love” money? I just love what money can buy. I love it’s power so much I spend more than I earn and put myself in debt.

Paul says to imitate him. I can’t do it. There’s a reality check. No. I have to find my own balance between culture, commitment, and Christ. This is not the first century.

I have no real solution. But I do know that it’s here where the voice of God must enter my soul and bring revelation. It is here where grace must make her appearance. It is here where mercy must do battle with condemnation. It is here where potential change must be embraced within the loving arms of a Redeemer.

Just as Jesus accepted the prostitutes and beggars, he accepts me. And just as he transformed them, he can transform me. I don’t know what that will look like. I cannot know the true outcome of this picture. I can only trust the Artist.

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God-Given Differences

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Some things are absolutely the same in all of us: the spirit-spark and the potential for union with God, our essential humanness. Upon that foundation, there are God-given differences, or gifts that drive our responses. It is here that uniqueness is born.

I Corinthians 4:7a
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive?

My journey is a combination of essential human spirit, God’s gifts, and my interpreted embellishments. The combination of these three make me unique, but the first two, the Godly gifts, give me the ability to walk, run, or leap through life. My human spirit has the potential for anything. It is resilient and full of hope. It is like an ember of fire, ready to ignite.

God’s gifts are varied. Sometimes, the gifts enhance and sometimes the gifts limit. They are the things we cannot control. We were born to whom we were born. Those parents and families were enhancements or limitations. We came into the world with our skin (whatever color), our senses (whatever combination), our body, our country, our era, etc., all gifts from God, depending on the individual.

And so, as we live and grow, we respond to these gifts. Some of us are challenged to overcome poverty while others are challenged to overcome wealth (after all, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God . . . ” [Matthew 19:24]). Some of us are challenged with poor health or disease while others are challenged with hard hearts and fear.

Each one has his or her own cross. Who am I to say that my cross is more difficult or easier than another. Some claim the wealthy have it easy, but then, don’t they still die and suffer like the rest of us? Others say those in good health glide through life, not knowing their hearts are broken by grief and betrayal.

The more I do on my own, the more difficult my life will be. The more I “kick against the goads” [Acts 26:14], the more challenging the journey. The more I denounce my circumstances, particularly the God-given ones, the less likely I’ll integrate them.

I cannot go back and change my past. But starting today, I can accept what was before and embrace a newly crafted future with God. This is part of the Redeemer contract. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” [II Corinthians 5:17]

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