One keeps going back and back to the fundamentals, checking on how things fits, seeing if what new one has learned fits into the world view, and to refresh oneself on what that world view is. So, here we go again.
1. Why is there something rather than nothing? This is the question behind all questions. To me it has to do with the concept of a God. Creation (one universe or multiverse) is here for a reason (something I don’t expect to know, at least given my current state of knowledge).
Creation did not just happen. So, in my view, the reason there is a universe is because there is a God. I argue that God cannot be proven…that there is no “proof” of God. God is an assumption. So this is very personal. But, the assumption has to work. It has to help make things go together, be logically consistent with the whole model, and must not be a superfluous to the model, just a gratuitous appendage.
To me, the Hebrew/Christian captures this in the first sentence of scripture: “In the beginning, God…” This, of course, is from Genesis 1:1. And, it says it all…God exists…God was there before the beginning…and that is all!
The existence of God is assumed! The existence of God does not need to be proven. God’s existence is something we believe…something we trust in. Nothing more needs to be said and we move along.
2. Why is creation ordered? Not only through our own actions but the advancement of science has shown that creation is sufficiently ordered so that we can learn about creation and make better decisions and solve more and more difficult problems. The world is ordered so that we may live and learn within this world and grow and mature though our own actions. That is, because the world is sufficiently ordered and we can learn about it, we are thereby responsible for the development of our problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Where do we learn that creation is ordered? We learn that the world is ordered from Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 1:31. The story presented here is about God creating the world in six days.
This, to me, is not to be taken literally. This is an allegory, a story that carries with it the message that creation did not just come about in a hap-hazard manner, that there was order to creation both in the act of that creation and in its subsequent development. Order was a part of creation.
Thus, God wanted (for whatever reason) creation to exist and God wanted that creation ordered. The assumption is that God got what was wanted because of the proclamation that “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1: 31)
3. All humans are made for community. The basic statement here is “It is not good that the man should be alone.” This is in Genesis 2:18. The story is told in terms of the creation of Eve, but like many of the stories in the scriptures, the meaning is much broader. First, in order to have community, one must have women as well as men so that children are possible. Man needs “helpers” and “partners” (Genesis 2: 20) and so children are desirable and families and neighbors and others are needed. Humans need community.
“When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them “Humankind” when they were created.” (Genesis 5: 1-2) And, humankind made communities and cities and nations.
4. Humans are not capable of achieving “complete information.” If humans were to know everything, have “complete information” then life would be terribly boring. If you know everything then all decisions are obvious and there is no choice. Humans are also not assigned any responsibility in such a situation for their decision making because there would be no need for decision making…everything would be obvious with only one choice. Who would want to know these beings…how dull…for everything would be decided ahead time…there would be no uncertainty of outcome.
Yet, humans crave from “complete information”, for certainty. And, this craving is the source of many of the problems humans create for themselves. We see this in the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent and the apple. The sneaky serpent claims that if you eat the apple “your eye will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” in essence, knowing everything. (Genesis 3:1-7) The serpent is that little voice in the back of the minds of humans, the inner drive to attain “complete information” because then they would be in charge, they would control everything, and they would “be like God.” At least, they want to know enough so that they can control others.
But, this desire, this craving to gain “complete information” is a primary source of the unhappiness of humans. It creates “enmity” and “contention” between individuals. This consequence is laid out in the banishment from Eden found in Genesis 3:8-19).
These four fundamental issues relating to the world and how it is created, I contend, are dealt with in the very first part of the scriptures. Let me just add two more “fundamental” issues to the group.
5. In both the Hebrew scriptures and in the Christian scriptures we are told that we should love God and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. To me, these commandments should accompany point number four above. My reasoning is this: to love God or to love ourselves or to love our neighbors or, by extension, to love creation requires that we know enough about the one we are to love that we can “be where they are and not where we are” when we engage with them. That is we can be more unified with them, more in tune with them, more sympathetic with them, more aligned with them. Rather than being “alchemists” who try and change one substance into another we are “scientists” who learn how things work and then try to work “with” the way things are and not against them or a-cross them. In this we are curious…and not dogmatic.
We assume that God loves his creation and all of the creatures in this creation…and he has said that they are “good.” Thus, like God we should love this creation and all of the creatures in this creation. Therefore, we should study creation, we should learn all we can about creation, and we should be open and keep learning, for the more we know the greater unity we can be in them.
We will never achieve “complete information” yet we are still responsible for constantly seeking more and more information so that we can make better decisions and solve more and more difficult problems. Like God, we are made to love.
6. Community is based upon co-operation and self-discipline. The first has to do with “infinite life”. In game theory we learn that in the case of infinitely repeated, simultaneous games, the best solution is to co-operate with others and not default to selfish, self-serving actions. If we have a time horizon that is shorter than this, we have a greater tendency to opt-out of co-operative solutions, thereby harming the community as a whole. Belief in an “infinite life” therefore encourages behavior that is beneficial to the health and growth of the community.
Teachings about “life-after-death” are helpful in the “here-and-now” as they contribute to strong relationships and interactions within the present body of believers.
Another factor that plays into the health of the community is what is commonly called “conscience.” I Stanley Kauffmann, who writes the column on film for the New Republic magazine, one time wrote a definition of “conscience” in his column. He wrote that conscience is the belief that someone, somewhere is watching you.” That someone, of course, could be God. If, in game theory, you believe that the game is going to be over in the near term because someone is going to “catch-you-out”, you will not default from accepted behavior. Thus, in creating guilt through building up the feeling of the “conscience” is a very effective way of getting people within a community to co-operate and act in a way that is not detrimental to the community.
Both of these factors play a very prominent role in the Christian New Testament.
Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Friday, February 6, 2009
Ministry and Leadership
In my blog post of February 2, 2009, I discussed what I consider to be the general responsibility of individuals…to be missional. This general responsibility is to live a life that “reveals the image” of the life you think everyone should live. Note, however, this does not mean that you want people to live just like you in the specific things you do or say. That would require people to seek a specific “outcome” and this is where we can get into a tremendous amount of problems.
If we require people to achieve specific “outcomes” then, essentially, we want people to be and act exactly like us. We then have an explicit standard by which we can judge you and hold you strictly accountable for not behaving in exactly the same way we do. The “outcomes” become the “law” which you must be able to recite and the “law” then becomes your judge and jury. Your life is bounded and controlled.
The alternative to this approach is to stress that the image you want to reveal is of a “process”, not one of “outcomes”. By “process” I suggest that we can reveal how one addresses problems or decisions; by stressing “outcomes” one has already determined what the solution to the problem should be or what the decision is that one should make.
I take an example of what I mean by the reported behavior of Jesus. Let us look at what he did when he healed people. One could think that Jesus revealed the image of God by healing people from their infirmities. Certainly, a loving God…and we are told that God is love…would want to heal people and in this way make their lives better.
I don’t believe that this is what Jesus is showing us. The thing that has proven to be so remarkable to me is that after Jesus heals the individual physically, he has a message for that person. To one person, he tells them to go do this. But, to the next person he tells them to go and do something else. And, to a third person he tells them to do something entirely different from the first two people.
I wondered about this for a long time. Why did Jesus do this? And, even more important to me…why is it important that we know that Jesus did this? The answer finally came to me that it was important for us to see that, first, it was not the healing that revealed the image of God to us, and, second, Jesus treated everyone differently in terms of his relationship to them. Maybe…just maybe…it was the “process” of what Jesus was revealing and not the “outcomes” of the actions of Jesus…the healings.
More specifically, if Jesus really loved these individuals, he would want to do the best thing he could for them…that is, he would want to suggest or commend to them the action that would be as helpful to them, in terms of living a better life, that he could. But that action would necessarily be different for every person he talked to…because everyone is different from every other person.
This, to me, is what loving is all about. Jesus is revealing to us what loving our neighbor really is. Jesus is revealing to us what it means to say that God is love. And, it this is the way in which we are to behave.
How can I say this? Look at the encounter that Jesus had with the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler asks Jesus what he could do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds with the question, “What do the commandments say?” The rich young ruler responds correctly and adds that he has done all this. And then we are told that Jesus looks on the rich young ruler “with love”. Then tells him that he must sell all he has for his riches are getting in the way of his wholeness.
The point here is not that Jesus tells the rich young ruler to get rid of his riches. The important thing is that Jesus looks on the rich young ruler “with love”.
This is all fine and good…but if we are to reach out to each person in the way that is best for them…we have to know an awfully lot about each and every person. Please note…this does not mean that we reach out to the other person is a way that they would like or a way in which they would like us. In the example of the interchange between Jesus and the rich young ruler, Jesus certainly did not give the rich young ruler a pleasant task…for the rich young ruler went away very unhappy…he had many riches.
The focus should be upon the “process” of love. Jesus knew a great deal about everyone. In the Gospel of John we are told that the woman that Jesus talked to by the well reported to her neighbors that Jesus told her all that she had ever done. This was one of the reasons Jesus was special. We are told that he had great insight into others. And this is how he could love. Because he could see what it was that others needed in order to be more whole, more complete, more at peace within themselves.
And this is the image that is revealed to us…that we are to try and become as knowledgeable of “the other”…whether it is another person…another group…or creation…or parts of creation…as we can so that we can be in unity with them in the sense that we, like Jesus, can see what is really needed in a situation and “through love” act or be in a way that serves “the other” in what is needed. This is the “process” of love…and this is what, I believe, we mean when we say we have a responsibility to be missional in our behavior. We are to reveal in our actions this “process” of love because it is the way that we believe that others should lead their lives.
In being missional, we are all asked to be leaders. In being missional we are leading other people, by example, into the way we believe that all people should live their lives. In being missional we, like Jesus, are “revealing the image” of a god we believe to be the ideal of love. In being missional we are showing others what it means when we say that God is love.
In showing this leadership we are being ministers and this is what comes out of some of the New Testament writing. This is called “the priesthood of all believers.” In essence, everyone is, or can be, a minister. And, yet we are told that everyone has different talents…different abilities…different experiences. Everyone is not supposed to do the same thing that everyone else does.
And, in this light, certain of us are separated out to be ministers of the ministers…that is, to be ordained pastors or priests or ministers. And, given what has been written above, this to me means that these ministers that have been separated out have a special responsibility to others to teach, facilitate, to show others what it means to be missional in their lives. This means that these ministers that are separated out have a special responsibility to focus on what I have called “the process” and not emphasize “outcomes.”
I believe that too many of our “separated out” ministers have been taught in seminaries to focus on “outcomes” and been encouraged by their peers to focus on “outcomes” and been charged by their religious organizations and churches and congregations to focus on “outcomes” and this has left us in the state that we are now in. These ministers are not entirely blameless themselves for they like the power and control that comes to them by being the one who is in charge of telling their flocks what “outcomes” they should be pursuing…and their flocks…what they still have of them…blindly follow their shepherd.
Energy and initiative come from the teaching and facilitation of “process”. Energy and initiative come from people that are missional…that study and learn and gain experience in what they do so that they can “love” others…including creation…as they have been commanded to do. Our ministers that have been “separated out” need to step back and discern how they can release all this energy and initiative to the world…even if they lose some of their power and control.
If we require people to achieve specific “outcomes” then, essentially, we want people to be and act exactly like us. We then have an explicit standard by which we can judge you and hold you strictly accountable for not behaving in exactly the same way we do. The “outcomes” become the “law” which you must be able to recite and the “law” then becomes your judge and jury. Your life is bounded and controlled.
The alternative to this approach is to stress that the image you want to reveal is of a “process”, not one of “outcomes”. By “process” I suggest that we can reveal how one addresses problems or decisions; by stressing “outcomes” one has already determined what the solution to the problem should be or what the decision is that one should make.
I take an example of what I mean by the reported behavior of Jesus. Let us look at what he did when he healed people. One could think that Jesus revealed the image of God by healing people from their infirmities. Certainly, a loving God…and we are told that God is love…would want to heal people and in this way make their lives better.
I don’t believe that this is what Jesus is showing us. The thing that has proven to be so remarkable to me is that after Jesus heals the individual physically, he has a message for that person. To one person, he tells them to go do this. But, to the next person he tells them to go and do something else. And, to a third person he tells them to do something entirely different from the first two people.
I wondered about this for a long time. Why did Jesus do this? And, even more important to me…why is it important that we know that Jesus did this? The answer finally came to me that it was important for us to see that, first, it was not the healing that revealed the image of God to us, and, second, Jesus treated everyone differently in terms of his relationship to them. Maybe…just maybe…it was the “process” of what Jesus was revealing and not the “outcomes” of the actions of Jesus…the healings.
More specifically, if Jesus really loved these individuals, he would want to do the best thing he could for them…that is, he would want to suggest or commend to them the action that would be as helpful to them, in terms of living a better life, that he could. But that action would necessarily be different for every person he talked to…because everyone is different from every other person.
This, to me, is what loving is all about. Jesus is revealing to us what loving our neighbor really is. Jesus is revealing to us what it means to say that God is love. And, it this is the way in which we are to behave.
How can I say this? Look at the encounter that Jesus had with the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler asks Jesus what he could do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds with the question, “What do the commandments say?” The rich young ruler responds correctly and adds that he has done all this. And then we are told that Jesus looks on the rich young ruler “with love”. Then tells him that he must sell all he has for his riches are getting in the way of his wholeness.
The point here is not that Jesus tells the rich young ruler to get rid of his riches. The important thing is that Jesus looks on the rich young ruler “with love”.
This is all fine and good…but if we are to reach out to each person in the way that is best for them…we have to know an awfully lot about each and every person. Please note…this does not mean that we reach out to the other person is a way that they would like or a way in which they would like us. In the example of the interchange between Jesus and the rich young ruler, Jesus certainly did not give the rich young ruler a pleasant task…for the rich young ruler went away very unhappy…he had many riches.
The focus should be upon the “process” of love. Jesus knew a great deal about everyone. In the Gospel of John we are told that the woman that Jesus talked to by the well reported to her neighbors that Jesus told her all that she had ever done. This was one of the reasons Jesus was special. We are told that he had great insight into others. And this is how he could love. Because he could see what it was that others needed in order to be more whole, more complete, more at peace within themselves.
And this is the image that is revealed to us…that we are to try and become as knowledgeable of “the other”…whether it is another person…another group…or creation…or parts of creation…as we can so that we can be in unity with them in the sense that we, like Jesus, can see what is really needed in a situation and “through love” act or be in a way that serves “the other” in what is needed. This is the “process” of love…and this is what, I believe, we mean when we say we have a responsibility to be missional in our behavior. We are to reveal in our actions this “process” of love because it is the way that we believe that others should lead their lives.
In being missional, we are all asked to be leaders. In being missional we are leading other people, by example, into the way we believe that all people should live their lives. In being missional we, like Jesus, are “revealing the image” of a god we believe to be the ideal of love. In being missional we are showing others what it means when we say that God is love.
In showing this leadership we are being ministers and this is what comes out of some of the New Testament writing. This is called “the priesthood of all believers.” In essence, everyone is, or can be, a minister. And, yet we are told that everyone has different talents…different abilities…different experiences. Everyone is not supposed to do the same thing that everyone else does.
And, in this light, certain of us are separated out to be ministers of the ministers…that is, to be ordained pastors or priests or ministers. And, given what has been written above, this to me means that these ministers that have been separated out have a special responsibility to others to teach, facilitate, to show others what it means to be missional in their lives. This means that these ministers that are separated out have a special responsibility to focus on what I have called “the process” and not emphasize “outcomes.”
I believe that too many of our “separated out” ministers have been taught in seminaries to focus on “outcomes” and been encouraged by their peers to focus on “outcomes” and been charged by their religious organizations and churches and congregations to focus on “outcomes” and this has left us in the state that we are now in. These ministers are not entirely blameless themselves for they like the power and control that comes to them by being the one who is in charge of telling their flocks what “outcomes” they should be pursuing…and their flocks…what they still have of them…blindly follow their shepherd.
Energy and initiative come from the teaching and facilitation of “process”. Energy and initiative come from people that are missional…that study and learn and gain experience in what they do so that they can “love” others…including creation…as they have been commanded to do. Our ministers that have been “separated out” need to step back and discern how they can release all this energy and initiative to the world…even if they lose some of their power and control.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Reveal the Image Of...
Over the past several years I have used the term “Missional” to capture what it is that I think that we should be doing. We all should be “missional” in our lives.
The word “missional” was created to be more meaningful in a modern sense to the worn out terms of “mission” or “missionary.” These terms were used to describe any number of different activities, some of them not so positive, and so people produced the word “missional” to captured a more specific and limited type of behavior. To be “missional” one was to behave in a way that was representational of the way a Christian was supposed to live. To be “missional” was to glorify God in all that one did. Then, to take a Roman meaning of “glorify” where a statue of the current Caesar was put on a cart and drawn around a area where the statue revealed the image of the person who was then Caesar. That is, the image looked like the reigning Caesar and this then brought the populace into closer contact with the Caesar because individuals now knew what Caesar looked like.
In similar fashion we are to glorify God by acting in a way that will reveal the image of our God. We take as an example of this a person, Jesus of Nazareth who was thought to glorify God better than any other person who has lived. That is, Jesus is said to have revealed the image of God to others so that individuals would have a real, concrete image of how one should live ones’ life as God would have him live his life.
But, in what way did Jesus reveal the image of God?
Well, we are told that “God is love.”
But, what does this mean? Do we have any more information about how one should live ones’ life? I mean, if God is love and we are to reveal the image of God…then we must be “love” as well. How do we become “love”…how do we reveal this image?
Perhaps our next clue comes from what we are told we are commanded to do…the “Great Commandments.” These are to love God with all our heart and all our soul and all are mind and the second is like it…it is to love our neighbor as ourselves. So the whole thing about revealing the image of God is about love…about loving God…about loving others…and in the broader sense other people and creation…and about loving ourselves. In this was we reveal what is meant by “God is love.”
How do we “love God”?
First of all we must know God…know about God. That is, we must put ourselves out and learn…gather information about God…review existing knowledge about God…and keep open and search in every way we can for more information about God.
Why do we have to put out this effort?
We have to make this effort because we cannot really love…we cannot really love God…unless we know as much as we can about the one to be loved. We have to know as much as we can because how can love the one to be loved if we don’t know who the loved one is, what the loved one does, what is best for the loved one…where the loved one is.
If we are to love the loved one we need to know where the loved one is and what will make the loved one happy and what will be the optimal things to do in relationship to the loved one. That is, to love God, we need to know where God is and what we can do to be in unity with God.
But, to be able to love God we also must be able to love ourselves. If we don’t love ourselves, how can we love anyone, anything, or whatever. We must have, at a minimum, a certain care or concern for ourselves. Again, in order for us to love ourselves we must learn about ourselves…know ourselves sufficiently so that we can act in our best interests. This does not mean to act selfishly, or greedily, or in a controlling way to get our own way. It means that we must really find out about who we are, what we need to do to really act in our best interest, and to then act in a way that will bring us into greater unity with who we really are. So, knowledge and a long term view is very necessary to love…both self and God.
The same is also true of loving our neighbor as our self. We must again gain as much information as we can about other individuals and about creation. We must make an effort to learn a sufficient amount about others and creation so that we can move to attain greater unity with others and with creation. Study, learning, knowledge…all sorts of efforts like these must go into loving the other…not trying to get our way…but to learn where they are and what is in their best interests. This is how we love our neighbor as our self.
So, this is what it means to love…to study…and to act. To learn about the one to be loved…the part of creation to be loved…and then to act in the best interest of the one that is loved.
This is what God does…we are told. This is what Jesus has revealed to us…in his life and actions. This is what we are supposed to do…this is what it means to be “missional.” We are to live a life that shows to others the example of how we think people should live…how we believe God loves.
We are told that God “created” the world…and that he saw that it was “good.” That is, God saw the world and he loved the world.
When we study physics…when we try and learn the way nature works…so that we can work with nature in a way that raises our standard of living and helps people…and then we work to build this knowledge and act in a way that is beneficial to all. This is seeing God’s creation…it is loving God’s creation…and it is revealing the image of God to others…so that others will emulate this behavior.
The same thing is true of loving another person…let’s take a potential spouse…as the extreme. We date…we do things together…we talk with each other…we learn to become friends…we learn whether or not we can tolerate each other over a long period of time…we learn whether or not we can act in the other’s best interest putting aside our own interests when it is important to the relationship…we learn about each other so that we can be where they are not where we are…and this is love…and this can lead to a great marriage.
This is the foundation of “missional” behavior. If we are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves…then let us act in that way…let us be “missional” to one another. It doesn’t mean that we go overseas…or that we go into the cities…or that we make a special effort to reach out. Yes, being “missional” may include all of these…but being “missional” starts with the next person you talk with…the next person you see…the next thing you do. Being “missional” is action…right where you are…right with what you are doing at this very moment.
Being “missional” is revealing the image of what you believe to be the most important way to live.
The word “missional” was created to be more meaningful in a modern sense to the worn out terms of “mission” or “missionary.” These terms were used to describe any number of different activities, some of them not so positive, and so people produced the word “missional” to captured a more specific and limited type of behavior. To be “missional” one was to behave in a way that was representational of the way a Christian was supposed to live. To be “missional” was to glorify God in all that one did. Then, to take a Roman meaning of “glorify” where a statue of the current Caesar was put on a cart and drawn around a area where the statue revealed the image of the person who was then Caesar. That is, the image looked like the reigning Caesar and this then brought the populace into closer contact with the Caesar because individuals now knew what Caesar looked like.
In similar fashion we are to glorify God by acting in a way that will reveal the image of our God. We take as an example of this a person, Jesus of Nazareth who was thought to glorify God better than any other person who has lived. That is, Jesus is said to have revealed the image of God to others so that individuals would have a real, concrete image of how one should live ones’ life as God would have him live his life.
But, in what way did Jesus reveal the image of God?
Well, we are told that “God is love.”
But, what does this mean? Do we have any more information about how one should live ones’ life? I mean, if God is love and we are to reveal the image of God…then we must be “love” as well. How do we become “love”…how do we reveal this image?
Perhaps our next clue comes from what we are told we are commanded to do…the “Great Commandments.” These are to love God with all our heart and all our soul and all are mind and the second is like it…it is to love our neighbor as ourselves. So the whole thing about revealing the image of God is about love…about loving God…about loving others…and in the broader sense other people and creation…and about loving ourselves. In this was we reveal what is meant by “God is love.”
How do we “love God”?
First of all we must know God…know about God. That is, we must put ourselves out and learn…gather information about God…review existing knowledge about God…and keep open and search in every way we can for more information about God.
Why do we have to put out this effort?
We have to make this effort because we cannot really love…we cannot really love God…unless we know as much as we can about the one to be loved. We have to know as much as we can because how can love the one to be loved if we don’t know who the loved one is, what the loved one does, what is best for the loved one…where the loved one is.
If we are to love the loved one we need to know where the loved one is and what will make the loved one happy and what will be the optimal things to do in relationship to the loved one. That is, to love God, we need to know where God is and what we can do to be in unity with God.
But, to be able to love God we also must be able to love ourselves. If we don’t love ourselves, how can we love anyone, anything, or whatever. We must have, at a minimum, a certain care or concern for ourselves. Again, in order for us to love ourselves we must learn about ourselves…know ourselves sufficiently so that we can act in our best interests. This does not mean to act selfishly, or greedily, or in a controlling way to get our own way. It means that we must really find out about who we are, what we need to do to really act in our best interest, and to then act in a way that will bring us into greater unity with who we really are. So, knowledge and a long term view is very necessary to love…both self and God.
The same is also true of loving our neighbor as our self. We must again gain as much information as we can about other individuals and about creation. We must make an effort to learn a sufficient amount about others and creation so that we can move to attain greater unity with others and with creation. Study, learning, knowledge…all sorts of efforts like these must go into loving the other…not trying to get our way…but to learn where they are and what is in their best interests. This is how we love our neighbor as our self.
So, this is what it means to love…to study…and to act. To learn about the one to be loved…the part of creation to be loved…and then to act in the best interest of the one that is loved.
This is what God does…we are told. This is what Jesus has revealed to us…in his life and actions. This is what we are supposed to do…this is what it means to be “missional.” We are to live a life that shows to others the example of how we think people should live…how we believe God loves.
We are told that God “created” the world…and that he saw that it was “good.” That is, God saw the world and he loved the world.
When we study physics…when we try and learn the way nature works…so that we can work with nature in a way that raises our standard of living and helps people…and then we work to build this knowledge and act in a way that is beneficial to all. This is seeing God’s creation…it is loving God’s creation…and it is revealing the image of God to others…so that others will emulate this behavior.
The same thing is true of loving another person…let’s take a potential spouse…as the extreme. We date…we do things together…we talk with each other…we learn to become friends…we learn whether or not we can tolerate each other over a long period of time…we learn whether or not we can act in the other’s best interest putting aside our own interests when it is important to the relationship…we learn about each other so that we can be where they are not where we are…and this is love…and this can lead to a great marriage.
This is the foundation of “missional” behavior. If we are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves…then let us act in that way…let us be “missional” to one another. It doesn’t mean that we go overseas…or that we go into the cities…or that we make a special effort to reach out. Yes, being “missional” may include all of these…but being “missional” starts with the next person you talk with…the next person you see…the next thing you do. Being “missional” is action…right where you are…right with what you are doing at this very moment.
Being “missional” is revealing the image of what you believe to be the most important way to live.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Synchronicity
Last Tuesday, January 20, I posted a blog that included parts of the following quote from Goethe:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Considering all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”
“All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manners of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no person would have believed would have come their way. Whatever you think you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.”
People have referred to this type of occurrence as “synchronicity” which is basically defined as things happening, existing, or arising at precisely the same time. It is my belief that some form of synchronicity takes place when people come into greater unity with God, within oneself, with others, and with creation. It is what happens when one loves God and loves their neighbor (which I define more broadly as including all of creation as well as other people).
Why do I think this way?
It is because if we are not in a high degree of unity, as explained above, things don’t connect, we are separated, alienated, and we, as individuals are uncomfortable, unsettled, and feel discomfort. That is, when we are not in unity…our whole lives suffer…nothing goes together.
If we are really ourselves, if we love God and neighbor…if we know, as much as possible, where we are, where God is, where others are, and where creation is…so that we, in love, can respond to others where they are and not, selfishly, where we are…then things can move together…and they do.
The point is, that being committed to the two major commandments, which means that we also are committed to truly loving ourselves, I believe gets us into Goethe “magic groove”. And, if we do achieve this in some way, “a whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manners of incidents and meetings and material assistance…”
This can be a test…if things seem to be moving together and coincidences and weird things start to run in parallel…then accept the fact that maybe…just maybe…you are doing some things that are bringing greater unity into your lives…greater unity with God, within yourself, with others and with creation.
The times when this happens does not have to be related to “earth-shattering” events…or incredible commitments. Situations can occur within the context of the “little things.” But, these times are times to cherish…to be thankful for…and to possibly learn something from. For it is times like these that we are trying to make more and more a part of our lives. In times like these we see what life can be like. In times like these we feel whole…and at peace.
The difficulty with Goethe’s statement above has to do with what we commit to. I will argue very strongly with the point that it doesn’t matter what one commits to…we just have to commit to something. It is important what we commit to. And, we don’t want to waste commitments.
Note, we are dealing with hesitancy, the chance to draw back, ineffectiveness. There is the reality that we don’t know what action or actions will bring us that greater unity. We deal with the reality that we still have to make decisions, take actions, based on incomplete information. Thus, we are faced with deciding or acting in the wrong way…making the wrong commitments. This, of course, is a real possibility. So, it does matter what we do…which path we take.
Again, we are problem solvers…we use the process of inductive inference…we determine the choices we can make that we believe can contribute to the greater unity we seek. We are not deciding or acting in a vacuum. But, we finally must act…we finally must commit…and…
Our hope is that our commitment will bring us into that greater unity we seek. What Goethe is telling us…I believe…that when we come to making a decision…we make that decision…take that action…with real commitment…with the real giving of oneself to the effort. But, again, we may be wrong…or, at least, not quite correct. We still have learning to do…we still need to incorporate the new information we have gathered and apply it to the effort. That is the process of how human beings go about solving problems.
What we are after, however, is that feeling of unity…that feeling of wholeness. That is really what we are after…not riches, not wins, not sex, not a lot of other things. What we want is our lives to come together. We want the various parts of our lives to fit together. If they don’t, we struggle…we fuss…we drink too much…we argue and fight…we are unhappy with ourselves and our lives. We don’t want the different components of our lives to be separate, disjointed, or out-of-whack. We want things to fit and we want to feel like we are one…we are whole.
Let me try and put this together in summary. We want our lives to be meaningful. I believer that when we are in greater unity…as described above…when we are more whole…when we experience synchronicity…life does seem meaningful to us. We can’t explain it. We can’t write a treatise on it, let alone an essay. But, when things go together and we achieve some of that feeling of unity…we sense meaningfulness in life. Why? Because if things are flowing together…even in very small things…we feel that things must be meaningful because everything is going together…and that is the way life is supposed to be.
Funny…we don’t need a philosophical or theological book to explain life to us or to speculate on the meaningfulness of life. When we sense things flowing together in some sort of synchronistic way…we feel that life is good. God, we are told, looked at his creation and said that it was good. When we feel that life is good…we feel in tune with God…and we feel that life has meaning. We feel that we are what we are supposed to be…we feel we fit within God’s creation…and we feel that we have meaning. This is what we are looking for.
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Considering all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”
“All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manners of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no person would have believed would have come their way. Whatever you think you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.”
People have referred to this type of occurrence as “synchronicity” which is basically defined as things happening, existing, or arising at precisely the same time. It is my belief that some form of synchronicity takes place when people come into greater unity with God, within oneself, with others, and with creation. It is what happens when one loves God and loves their neighbor (which I define more broadly as including all of creation as well as other people).
Why do I think this way?
It is because if we are not in a high degree of unity, as explained above, things don’t connect, we are separated, alienated, and we, as individuals are uncomfortable, unsettled, and feel discomfort. That is, when we are not in unity…our whole lives suffer…nothing goes together.
If we are really ourselves, if we love God and neighbor…if we know, as much as possible, where we are, where God is, where others are, and where creation is…so that we, in love, can respond to others where they are and not, selfishly, where we are…then things can move together…and they do.
The point is, that being committed to the two major commandments, which means that we also are committed to truly loving ourselves, I believe gets us into Goethe “magic groove”. And, if we do achieve this in some way, “a whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manners of incidents and meetings and material assistance…”
This can be a test…if things seem to be moving together and coincidences and weird things start to run in parallel…then accept the fact that maybe…just maybe…you are doing some things that are bringing greater unity into your lives…greater unity with God, within yourself, with others and with creation.
The times when this happens does not have to be related to “earth-shattering” events…or incredible commitments. Situations can occur within the context of the “little things.” But, these times are times to cherish…to be thankful for…and to possibly learn something from. For it is times like these that we are trying to make more and more a part of our lives. In times like these we see what life can be like. In times like these we feel whole…and at peace.
The difficulty with Goethe’s statement above has to do with what we commit to. I will argue very strongly with the point that it doesn’t matter what one commits to…we just have to commit to something. It is important what we commit to. And, we don’t want to waste commitments.
Note, we are dealing with hesitancy, the chance to draw back, ineffectiveness. There is the reality that we don’t know what action or actions will bring us that greater unity. We deal with the reality that we still have to make decisions, take actions, based on incomplete information. Thus, we are faced with deciding or acting in the wrong way…making the wrong commitments. This, of course, is a real possibility. So, it does matter what we do…which path we take.
Again, we are problem solvers…we use the process of inductive inference…we determine the choices we can make that we believe can contribute to the greater unity we seek. We are not deciding or acting in a vacuum. But, we finally must act…we finally must commit…and…
Our hope is that our commitment will bring us into that greater unity we seek. What Goethe is telling us…I believe…that when we come to making a decision…we make that decision…take that action…with real commitment…with the real giving of oneself to the effort. But, again, we may be wrong…or, at least, not quite correct. We still have learning to do…we still need to incorporate the new information we have gathered and apply it to the effort. That is the process of how human beings go about solving problems.
What we are after, however, is that feeling of unity…that feeling of wholeness. That is really what we are after…not riches, not wins, not sex, not a lot of other things. What we want is our lives to come together. We want the various parts of our lives to fit together. If they don’t, we struggle…we fuss…we drink too much…we argue and fight…we are unhappy with ourselves and our lives. We don’t want the different components of our lives to be separate, disjointed, or out-of-whack. We want things to fit and we want to feel like we are one…we are whole.
Let me try and put this together in summary. We want our lives to be meaningful. I believer that when we are in greater unity…as described above…when we are more whole…when we experience synchronicity…life does seem meaningful to us. We can’t explain it. We can’t write a treatise on it, let alone an essay. But, when things go together and we achieve some of that feeling of unity…we sense meaningfulness in life. Why? Because if things are flowing together…even in very small things…we feel that things must be meaningful because everything is going together…and that is the way life is supposed to be.
Funny…we don’t need a philosophical or theological book to explain life to us or to speculate on the meaningfulness of life. When we sense things flowing together in some sort of synchronistic way…we feel that life is good. God, we are told, looked at his creation and said that it was good. When we feel that life is good…we feel in tune with God…and we feel that life has meaning. We feel that we are what we are supposed to be…we feel we fit within God’s creation…and we feel that we have meaning. This is what we are looking for.
Friday, January 16, 2009
On Not Being Will-Full
The last post (January 12, 2009) argued against any person, group, or organization imposing doctrine, creed, or “truth” upon others. That is, one should be suspicious or stand-offish against anyone that demands 100% allegiance to the rules or laws concerning what they believe.
This position, however, opens up on the other side, the issue which is that individuals have complete freedom to choose whatever they want to, at any time they please. I call a person who takes such a position, a will-full person…a person who imposes their will upon a situation.
I find myself uncomfortable with this extreme position as well. I guess I am just wishy-washy.
There are two aspects to this issue that I believe to be very important. First, people, groups, and organizations do possess beliefs, worldviews, and other content that are helpful to one leading a better, fuller, or, more whole and alive life. These people, groups, and organizations can provide us with models and schema that allow us to make better decisions or solve more difficult problems.
To me, there is no question that this is the case. And, these people, groups, and organizations continue to provide guidance to individuals over time because, in a very pragmatic sense, a large part of what they have to offer succeeds…it truly helps others. The reason that they have “staying power” and are still around is that they do provide people with good models upon which these people make decisions or solve problems.
Where these people, groups, and organizations can go wrong, I believe, is when they either come to believe so strongly that they are “right” in their beliefs that they feel everyone should believe the same way they do, or, when they take a successful way of looking at something and use this success to build power and control for themselves. Of course, you can have situations where both occur and build upon one another over time.
The extreme of the first of these can be seen in the 16th century practice of burning people at the stake for their own good because they did not adhere to a particular form of belief. That is, these people were “going to hell” anyway, they could not be redeemed, and so they might as well get on with it…with the help of good Christians who knew of their depravity.
The extreme side of the second of these is the person who uses his or her charisma to gather followers to themselves, followers who seek certainty in one way or another. These people use their power over these people to enhance their own position and gain more and more control over others even to the point of committing mass suicide as the wish of the leader.
Variations can be found of both of these paths in highly organized clerical situations, political movements, or grass-roots assemblies. The foundation for such happenings is that there is fundamentally something positive that is offered people…whether it is hope, or certainty, or healing, or whatever. It is what happens in the evolution of the idea or ideas that corrupts the effort and turns it into something negative rather than positive.
My objection is that when the ideas, rules, laws, models, or schema start to be imposed upon individuals so that they cannot question or debate or investigate or be open to new information trouble begins. People must be free to ask questions. They must be free and open to new information. They must be at liberty to follow where their own minds lead them.
The problem with this, of course, is that people only have incomplete information about any subject. Thus, whatever questions they have or problems they face, they must go into them knowing that the answers they produce or the solutions they come up with are only uncertain and fallible. People must live with this deficiency…and this is a hard thing to do…for individuals, deep down, crave certainty. Individuals must learn to be strong and accept the fact that this is the reality of life. And some…because of life situations, of experiences, of personal weaknesses…cannot live with such uncertainty. They constantly search out those that offer a kind of shelter from the storm.
This leads into the second major aspect of the situation. There are people, groups, and organizations that do have successful worldviews, models, schema, and so forth and do not impose their ideas and beliefs on other people. These people, groups, and organizations accept the incompleteness and fallibility of their ideas and beliefs yet realize the positive aspects of their worldview, models or schema and want to share this fact with others.
I believe this to be true of those who truly follow Jesus…as argued in my post of January 12, 2009. I also believe that it is the responsibility of those that follow Jesus to share what Jesus has to offer with others. This is called “Missional” behavior and it is what we are supposed to engage in if we support the teachings of Jesus.
To go through the whole argument quickly: we argue that God is Love. Our objective is to love as God loves. First, we are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Second, we are to love God’s creation…ourselves, other people, and the rest of creation.
To love God and to love our neighbor…creation…we need to have some idea of what it means to love like God. This is where Jesus comes in. We who follow Jesus believe that he was an example of what it means to love God and to love God’s creation. In this, Jesus glorified God which translates into the statement that Jesus revealed the image of God in all that he did. Thus, Jesus is our model of what it means to love God and to love God’s creation.
This is what it means to be “Missional”. We are to do as Jesus did and that is reveal the image of God to others. That is…we are to “go and do likewise.”
Notice…in no way are we to force our ideas on others…in no way are we to impose on others…in no way are we to try and control the beliefs and actions of other individuals. We are to reveal what kind of life is led by those that follow the teachings of Jesus. No doctrine…no creed…no toeing the line to a specific way of thought.
The idea is, of course, that leading a life in this way will result in us being in greater unity with God, within ourselves, with others, and with creation. It will lead to greater wholeness and more aliveness. It will lead to a life that others will want to imitate.
Thus, there is no forcing…no imposing…no intimidation…no will-full-ness. We believe in a way of life that is our choice. We live that life and are able to reflect on and explain to others why we live the way we do and why, we believe, we get the results we do.
This, to me, is the way we live our lives. We believe in something. Our choices are not arbitrary. And, it is the way we help other individuals.
This position, however, opens up on the other side, the issue which is that individuals have complete freedom to choose whatever they want to, at any time they please. I call a person who takes such a position, a will-full person…a person who imposes their will upon a situation.
I find myself uncomfortable with this extreme position as well. I guess I am just wishy-washy.
There are two aspects to this issue that I believe to be very important. First, people, groups, and organizations do possess beliefs, worldviews, and other content that are helpful to one leading a better, fuller, or, more whole and alive life. These people, groups, and organizations can provide us with models and schema that allow us to make better decisions or solve more difficult problems.
To me, there is no question that this is the case. And, these people, groups, and organizations continue to provide guidance to individuals over time because, in a very pragmatic sense, a large part of what they have to offer succeeds…it truly helps others. The reason that they have “staying power” and are still around is that they do provide people with good models upon which these people make decisions or solve problems.
Where these people, groups, and organizations can go wrong, I believe, is when they either come to believe so strongly that they are “right” in their beliefs that they feel everyone should believe the same way they do, or, when they take a successful way of looking at something and use this success to build power and control for themselves. Of course, you can have situations where both occur and build upon one another over time.
The extreme of the first of these can be seen in the 16th century practice of burning people at the stake for their own good because they did not adhere to a particular form of belief. That is, these people were “going to hell” anyway, they could not be redeemed, and so they might as well get on with it…with the help of good Christians who knew of their depravity.
The extreme side of the second of these is the person who uses his or her charisma to gather followers to themselves, followers who seek certainty in one way or another. These people use their power over these people to enhance their own position and gain more and more control over others even to the point of committing mass suicide as the wish of the leader.
Variations can be found of both of these paths in highly organized clerical situations, political movements, or grass-roots assemblies. The foundation for such happenings is that there is fundamentally something positive that is offered people…whether it is hope, or certainty, or healing, or whatever. It is what happens in the evolution of the idea or ideas that corrupts the effort and turns it into something negative rather than positive.
My objection is that when the ideas, rules, laws, models, or schema start to be imposed upon individuals so that they cannot question or debate or investigate or be open to new information trouble begins. People must be free to ask questions. They must be free and open to new information. They must be at liberty to follow where their own minds lead them.
The problem with this, of course, is that people only have incomplete information about any subject. Thus, whatever questions they have or problems they face, they must go into them knowing that the answers they produce or the solutions they come up with are only uncertain and fallible. People must live with this deficiency…and this is a hard thing to do…for individuals, deep down, crave certainty. Individuals must learn to be strong and accept the fact that this is the reality of life. And some…because of life situations, of experiences, of personal weaknesses…cannot live with such uncertainty. They constantly search out those that offer a kind of shelter from the storm.
This leads into the second major aspect of the situation. There are people, groups, and organizations that do have successful worldviews, models, schema, and so forth and do not impose their ideas and beliefs on other people. These people, groups, and organizations accept the incompleteness and fallibility of their ideas and beliefs yet realize the positive aspects of their worldview, models or schema and want to share this fact with others.
I believe this to be true of those who truly follow Jesus…as argued in my post of January 12, 2009. I also believe that it is the responsibility of those that follow Jesus to share what Jesus has to offer with others. This is called “Missional” behavior and it is what we are supposed to engage in if we support the teachings of Jesus.
To go through the whole argument quickly: we argue that God is Love. Our objective is to love as God loves. First, we are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Second, we are to love God’s creation…ourselves, other people, and the rest of creation.
To love God and to love our neighbor…creation…we need to have some idea of what it means to love like God. This is where Jesus comes in. We who follow Jesus believe that he was an example of what it means to love God and to love God’s creation. In this, Jesus glorified God which translates into the statement that Jesus revealed the image of God in all that he did. Thus, Jesus is our model of what it means to love God and to love God’s creation.
This is what it means to be “Missional”. We are to do as Jesus did and that is reveal the image of God to others. That is…we are to “go and do likewise.”
Notice…in no way are we to force our ideas on others…in no way are we to impose on others…in no way are we to try and control the beliefs and actions of other individuals. We are to reveal what kind of life is led by those that follow the teachings of Jesus. No doctrine…no creed…no toeing the line to a specific way of thought.
The idea is, of course, that leading a life in this way will result in us being in greater unity with God, within ourselves, with others, and with creation. It will lead to greater wholeness and more aliveness. It will lead to a life that others will want to imitate.
Thus, there is no forcing…no imposing…no intimidation…no will-full-ness. We believe in a way of life that is our choice. We live that life and are able to reflect on and explain to others why we live the way we do and why, we believe, we get the results we do.
This, to me, is the way we live our lives. We believe in something. Our choices are not arbitrary. And, it is the way we help other individuals.
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Search for Knowledge
Jesus is reported to have said this during his ministry: “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” This comes from the book of John, chapter 8, verse 32. He prefaces this by saying, “If you continue in my word…”
The question about the meaning of this…and of other sayings attributed to Jesus…is whether or not Jesus wanted us to take his sayings as “law” or as “process.” If we take his sayings as “law” then we must obey exactly what he says. But, this has its own problems.
When Jesus is ask by a Jewish lawyer, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds by asking the lawyer “What is written in the law?” The lawyer smartly replies that “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” This comes from the book of Luke, chapter 10, versus 25-28.
This is the law and Jesus commends him: “You have given the right answer…” but then he goes on, “do this, and you will live.”
Whoa! Here is the law. We are told what to do. But…there is a hitch…how do we act? How do we carry out the meaning of the law? Like, for instance, “And who is my neighbor?” the lawyer replies.
Good question.
What does the law mean? How should it be applied? And, to whom should it be applied?
The law is the law, but the application of the law…is interpretation.
I believe that we get some sense of how Jesus sees the law being applied in two incidents that are reported in Mark 2:23-3:6, Matthew 12:1-14, and Luke 6:1-11. The first incident occurs when Jesus and his disciples are going through a grain field. (Mark 2:23) The second takes place in a synagogue on the Sabbath. In both cases the “upholders of the law” take issue with what is being done. In the first case the issue is about doing work on the Sabbath…plucking heads of grain. In the second case the issue concerns Jesus healing the withered hand of a man.
Upon facing the claim that he or his disciples are “doing what is not lawful” (Mark 2:24) Jesus replies citing scripture. “Have you never read…” he responds to the Pharisees. Also, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4)
He justifies the actions by saying “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath…” (Mark 2:27) and “I desire mercy and not sacrifice…” (Matthew 12:7) In other words, think about what the law is supposed to do. Is the law supposed to constrain man, limit him, and box him in? Or, is the law about freeing up man, opening up his possibilities, and providing liberation.
Did Moses liberate the Hebrews from bondage…or did he impose the law on them to bring them into a different kind of bondage?
I believe that what Jesus is saying is “think rightly.” What is this all about? The law is supposed to build up life…to create greater wholeness…to allow one to live more fully. You shouldn’t use the law to destroy life…or create division…or to smother the living. The law is supposed to help people live with God…to live with themselves…to live with others…and to live with creation.
The law is a guideline…but the law needs interpretation…the law requires knowledge and understanding. And, what does the law say? Well, Jesus says that the lawyer “gave the right answer.” The right answer is…“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
But, this answer opens up two issues that require definition. The first one, the lawyer goes for…”who is my neighbor?” Jesus doesn’t provide an answer to who the neighbor of the lawyer is. This is the story of the Good Samaritan and when Jesus finishes the story he asks…”Which of the these three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” And this deals with the second issue…what does it mean to love you neighbor.
Not…who is my neighbor?...but who was a neighbor. And, the lawyer gives Jesus the right answer again, “The one who showed him mercy.” The one who loved.
Note, by providing the other with the response he or she needs…you are being a neighbor. YOU are the only one you can control. YOU are the only one that can carry out the commandment for YOU. And, you respond to the needs of others, which requires that you make the effort to know what the other needs…and this is not what YOU want to give to the other…it is what the other needs!
And, this gets me back to the quote at the beginning…”If you continue in my word…YOU will know the truth…and the truth will make YOU free.” That is, if you take the time and effort to learn what the other needs and give to the other what he or she or it needs then YOU will become free…become whole…become fully alive. It is not the responsibility of the neighbor or who the neighbor is.
So, loving requires knowing…and knowing requires effort on the part of the individual to learn. We don’t know what the answer is until we make the effort to learn. THE LAW DOES NOT GIVE US THE ANSWER…the law only guides us. We must “think rightly.’
To put this in another way, it seems to me that any one or any group or any organization that requires you to subscribe to something that is rigid, dogmatic, or imposed upon you violates the teachings of Jesus. Any one or any group or any organization that tells you what to believe or tells you what to do or tells you who you can associate with violates the teachings of Jesus. We should be immediately suspicious of any one, any group, or any organization that has the final word on things, that will not us allow us to test things out and make our own judgments.
Jesus says that if you open your heart and soul and mind and strength to love…to love God, yourself, others, and all of creation…you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. That is, we have to develop and trust the inherent abilities we have as human beings and problem solvers if we are to be fully human, fully whole, and fully alive. We must oppose those that try and constrain us, who allow us anything less.
The question about the meaning of this…and of other sayings attributed to Jesus…is whether or not Jesus wanted us to take his sayings as “law” or as “process.” If we take his sayings as “law” then we must obey exactly what he says. But, this has its own problems.
When Jesus is ask by a Jewish lawyer, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds by asking the lawyer “What is written in the law?” The lawyer smartly replies that “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” This comes from the book of Luke, chapter 10, versus 25-28.
This is the law and Jesus commends him: “You have given the right answer…” but then he goes on, “do this, and you will live.”
Whoa! Here is the law. We are told what to do. But…there is a hitch…how do we act? How do we carry out the meaning of the law? Like, for instance, “And who is my neighbor?” the lawyer replies.
Good question.
What does the law mean? How should it be applied? And, to whom should it be applied?
The law is the law, but the application of the law…is interpretation.
I believe that we get some sense of how Jesus sees the law being applied in two incidents that are reported in Mark 2:23-3:6, Matthew 12:1-14, and Luke 6:1-11. The first incident occurs when Jesus and his disciples are going through a grain field. (Mark 2:23) The second takes place in a synagogue on the Sabbath. In both cases the “upholders of the law” take issue with what is being done. In the first case the issue is about doing work on the Sabbath…plucking heads of grain. In the second case the issue concerns Jesus healing the withered hand of a man.
Upon facing the claim that he or his disciples are “doing what is not lawful” (Mark 2:24) Jesus replies citing scripture. “Have you never read…” he responds to the Pharisees. Also, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4)
He justifies the actions by saying “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath…” (Mark 2:27) and “I desire mercy and not sacrifice…” (Matthew 12:7) In other words, think about what the law is supposed to do. Is the law supposed to constrain man, limit him, and box him in? Or, is the law about freeing up man, opening up his possibilities, and providing liberation.
Did Moses liberate the Hebrews from bondage…or did he impose the law on them to bring them into a different kind of bondage?
I believe that what Jesus is saying is “think rightly.” What is this all about? The law is supposed to build up life…to create greater wholeness…to allow one to live more fully. You shouldn’t use the law to destroy life…or create division…or to smother the living. The law is supposed to help people live with God…to live with themselves…to live with others…and to live with creation.
The law is a guideline…but the law needs interpretation…the law requires knowledge and understanding. And, what does the law say? Well, Jesus says that the lawyer “gave the right answer.” The right answer is…“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
But, this answer opens up two issues that require definition. The first one, the lawyer goes for…”who is my neighbor?” Jesus doesn’t provide an answer to who the neighbor of the lawyer is. This is the story of the Good Samaritan and when Jesus finishes the story he asks…”Which of the these three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” And this deals with the second issue…what does it mean to love you neighbor.
Not…who is my neighbor?...but who was a neighbor. And, the lawyer gives Jesus the right answer again, “The one who showed him mercy.” The one who loved.
Note, by providing the other with the response he or she needs…you are being a neighbor. YOU are the only one you can control. YOU are the only one that can carry out the commandment for YOU. And, you respond to the needs of others, which requires that you make the effort to know what the other needs…and this is not what YOU want to give to the other…it is what the other needs!
And, this gets me back to the quote at the beginning…”If you continue in my word…YOU will know the truth…and the truth will make YOU free.” That is, if you take the time and effort to learn what the other needs and give to the other what he or she or it needs then YOU will become free…become whole…become fully alive. It is not the responsibility of the neighbor or who the neighbor is.
So, loving requires knowing…and knowing requires effort on the part of the individual to learn. We don’t know what the answer is until we make the effort to learn. THE LAW DOES NOT GIVE US THE ANSWER…the law only guides us. We must “think rightly.’
To put this in another way, it seems to me that any one or any group or any organization that requires you to subscribe to something that is rigid, dogmatic, or imposed upon you violates the teachings of Jesus. Any one or any group or any organization that tells you what to believe or tells you what to do or tells you who you can associate with violates the teachings of Jesus. We should be immediately suspicious of any one, any group, or any organization that has the final word on things, that will not us allow us to test things out and make our own judgments.
Jesus says that if you open your heart and soul and mind and strength to love…to love God, yourself, others, and all of creation…you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. That is, we have to develop and trust the inherent abilities we have as human beings and problem solvers if we are to be fully human, fully whole, and fully alive. We must oppose those that try and constrain us, who allow us anything less.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Aliveness
“Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of our existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being. Someone will say, “I come alive when I listen to music,” or “I come to life when I garden,” or “I come alive when I play golf.” Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual. To be vital, awake, aware, in all areas of our lives, is the task that is never accomplished but it remains a goal.”
Brother David Steindl-Rast
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and then do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
Howard Thurman
What is it that makes us come alive?
I believe that we really come alive when we are whole, when we are in unity with God…within ourselves…with others…and with creation. I believe that we can come alive listening to music, gardening, playing golf, helping other people, doing our daily chores, performing in our profession and so on and so on because we can find ourselves as more complete beings…more whole…working with and within God’s creation rather than against or in conflict with it.
I believe that in the times we are “alive” in this way, we are revealing to others an image…an image of God. In times like these we reflect a love that is God-like and that is why we feel “in unity”…why we experience the feeling of wholeness and peace.
One cannot control the world and in trying to do so we experience separation, alienation, and anxiety. All that one can hope to control is one’s self and a person must exert his or her efforts to bring themselves into a greater unity with all that there is. But, this requires love. And, if we are to love, we need to bring this love into everything one does…and, in acting “in love” we need to reveal this image of love in all we say and all we do.
We have been told that there are two commandments—to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. I believe that we must take an enlarged definition of neighbor and expand the definition to include all of God’s creation, not just another person. That is, we are to love what God has created and that includes all that is within this creation. This is our neighbor.
Thus, to love our neighbor consists of coming into unity with others…and with creation. One should note, however, that loving our neighbor and coming into unity with our neighbor may not mean that we get along with them or are not at odds with them for some reason. Being in unity means that we are acting within the situation that we may agree to disagree. Since we do not control the other, we may not be able to bring them into unity with us. This raises a question, therefore, about what do we mean by love?
My definition of love is this: to love someone or something is to try to be where they are, see things as they see them and then respond to them with as full an understanding of this knowledge as possible. To love someone or something is not to respond to them as we would like them to be or as we see the world. We must learn as much as we can about those we are to love so that we can respond appropriately to where they are. Sometimes this means that we sacrifice for them. Sometimes this means that we work together. Sometimes this means that a “tough love” must exist between parties. But, to love someone or something means that we must work hard to try and understand them and their needs within a specific situation. I believe that God does this for us.
Another important point in this understanding of love is that to love our neighbor as ourselves…we must love ourselves. We must learn about ourselves and work to bring ourselves into a higher degree of unity, internally. We cannot really love someone else until we are confident in our love of ourselves. And, this does not mean that we are to be ego-maniacs!
And, of course, to be as “alive” as possible we must love God…be in unity with God. But, how do we do all this? We, of course, need examples. We are told that “God is love” and that we are to glorify God…that is “reveal the image of God.” We do have an example of a person who reflected God’s love and glorified God by revealing to us the image of God. This person is Jesus. By looking to the example of Jesus we can see how a person can love as God loves us.
Jesus is our example of what it means to love our neighbor, to love others, to love God’s creation, and to love God. Jesus shows us how to love as God loves.
This is our charge. This is why we can “feel alive” in doing something. We can “feel alive” in doing something because we can be more whole, more in unity with God, when we do those things…even playing golf.
Having played golf I can admit that this activity can be looked upon as rather trivial. Yet, it should remind us that even in doing very trivial things we should take them on as an opportunity to reveal the image of God. Others see us, see how we act and behave…and break golf clubs…see how we speak…and swear. They respond to the image we create. Realizing this we must decide whether or not we want the image we reveal to be helpful and productive to others…or are we satisfied as having little or no influence on them…or even a negative influence on them.
The image we reveal to others is important for that image not only reveals to others whether or not we “are alive” but how they might be “more alive” as well. In everything we do…whether it be playing golf, listening to music, or gardening…we should be exhibiting love…and in exhibiting love we “reveal the image of God.”
Brother David Steindl-Rast
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and then do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
Howard Thurman
What is it that makes us come alive?
I believe that we really come alive when we are whole, when we are in unity with God…within ourselves…with others…and with creation. I believe that we can come alive listening to music, gardening, playing golf, helping other people, doing our daily chores, performing in our profession and so on and so on because we can find ourselves as more complete beings…more whole…working with and within God’s creation rather than against or in conflict with it.
I believe that in the times we are “alive” in this way, we are revealing to others an image…an image of God. In times like these we reflect a love that is God-like and that is why we feel “in unity”…why we experience the feeling of wholeness and peace.
One cannot control the world and in trying to do so we experience separation, alienation, and anxiety. All that one can hope to control is one’s self and a person must exert his or her efforts to bring themselves into a greater unity with all that there is. But, this requires love. And, if we are to love, we need to bring this love into everything one does…and, in acting “in love” we need to reveal this image of love in all we say and all we do.
We have been told that there are two commandments—to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. I believe that we must take an enlarged definition of neighbor and expand the definition to include all of God’s creation, not just another person. That is, we are to love what God has created and that includes all that is within this creation. This is our neighbor.
Thus, to love our neighbor consists of coming into unity with others…and with creation. One should note, however, that loving our neighbor and coming into unity with our neighbor may not mean that we get along with them or are not at odds with them for some reason. Being in unity means that we are acting within the situation that we may agree to disagree. Since we do not control the other, we may not be able to bring them into unity with us. This raises a question, therefore, about what do we mean by love?
My definition of love is this: to love someone or something is to try to be where they are, see things as they see them and then respond to them with as full an understanding of this knowledge as possible. To love someone or something is not to respond to them as we would like them to be or as we see the world. We must learn as much as we can about those we are to love so that we can respond appropriately to where they are. Sometimes this means that we sacrifice for them. Sometimes this means that we work together. Sometimes this means that a “tough love” must exist between parties. But, to love someone or something means that we must work hard to try and understand them and their needs within a specific situation. I believe that God does this for us.
Another important point in this understanding of love is that to love our neighbor as ourselves…we must love ourselves. We must learn about ourselves and work to bring ourselves into a higher degree of unity, internally. We cannot really love someone else until we are confident in our love of ourselves. And, this does not mean that we are to be ego-maniacs!
And, of course, to be as “alive” as possible we must love God…be in unity with God. But, how do we do all this? We, of course, need examples. We are told that “God is love” and that we are to glorify God…that is “reveal the image of God.” We do have an example of a person who reflected God’s love and glorified God by revealing to us the image of God. This person is Jesus. By looking to the example of Jesus we can see how a person can love as God loves us.
Jesus is our example of what it means to love our neighbor, to love others, to love God’s creation, and to love God. Jesus shows us how to love as God loves.
This is our charge. This is why we can “feel alive” in doing something. We can “feel alive” in doing something because we can be more whole, more in unity with God, when we do those things…even playing golf.
Having played golf I can admit that this activity can be looked upon as rather trivial. Yet, it should remind us that even in doing very trivial things we should take them on as an opportunity to reveal the image of God. Others see us, see how we act and behave…and break golf clubs…see how we speak…and swear. They respond to the image we create. Realizing this we must decide whether or not we want the image we reveal to be helpful and productive to others…or are we satisfied as having little or no influence on them…or even a negative influence on them.
The image we reveal to others is important for that image not only reveals to others whether or not we “are alive” but how they might be “more alive” as well. In everything we do…whether it be playing golf, listening to music, or gardening…we should be exhibiting love…and in exhibiting love we “reveal the image of God.”
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