Paradoxes of Salvation

After reading Steve Bush's piece on What is Salvation?, I did some checking around for some other stuff, and found this bit by Thomas Merton, in No Man is an Island.

This matter of "salvation" is, when seen intuitively, a very simple thing. But when we analyze it, it turns into a complex tangle of paradoxes. We become ourselves by dying to ourselves. We gain only what we give up, and if we give up everything we gain everything. We cannot find ourselves within ourselves, but only in others; yet at the same time, before we can go out to others we must first find ourselves. We must forget ourselves in order to become truly conscious of who we are. The best way to love ourselves is to love others; yet we cannot love others unless we love ourselves, since it is written, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." But if we love ourselves in the wrong way, we become incapable of loving anybody else. And indeed when we love ourselves wrongly, we hate ourselves; if we hate ourselves we cannot help hating others. Yet there is a sense in which we must hate others and leave them in order to find God... As for this finding of God, we cannot even look for Him unless we have already found Him, and we cannot find Him unless He has first found us. We cannot begin to seek Him without a special gift of His grace; yet if we wait for grace to move us before beginning to seek Him, we will probably never begin. ...
Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

What a relief!!

About Stability

At this entry, Aaron Klinefelter reflects that

"One of my observations of many conversations around 'emerging' things (culture, church, etc...) is the pervasive feeling of liminality. The 'in-between-ness' ... always in transition... never settled.... 'open-ended-ness'....

"Maybe what a watching world that yearns for home and feels the constant pressure of 'the next big thing', really needs is to see a People who make their home in a foreign land. A People who choose for stability in the face of tension and tenuousness."

It got me thinking about stability myself. In the past 5 months, on our small street of 10 houses/homes, 5 have been for sale or have new owners . In the past 2 years, another house traded hands. In half the cases, the former owners had been there only briefly themselves. And we are thinking of moving, too, even though we have already been here nearly 25 years.

So, I read Aaron's reflection, then did some googling myself about stability. One article that leapt out at me was this paper, presented at a Bluffton College conference on"Anabaptism & Postmodernity," (August 6-8, 1998) by Gerald Schlabach, an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Among Schlabach's relevant comments was this:

It is no use rediscovering any of our church's roots, nor discerning innovative ways to be faithful to our church's calling, if we won't slow down, stay longer even if we can't stay put indefinitely, and take something like a vow of stability. Slow down -- because postmodernism may really
be hypermodernism. Stay longer -- because there is no way to discern God's will together without commitment to sit long together in the first place. A vow of stability -- because it is no use discerning appropriate ways to be Christian disciples in our age if we do not embody them through time, testing, and the patience with one another that our good ideas and great ideals need, in order to prove their worth as communal practices.

As one Mennonite church leader remarked to me concerning the impact of constant mobility on our congregations: "It's getting so the Abrahamic thing to do is to stay put."3

Postmodernism, however, seems to thrive on the problem of instability, not confront it. If there's any such thing."

Instability, and pursuit of the next best thing? Of course, these are quite related in our culture and in our time, and as these others point out, can get in the way of catching the Grace and Spirit of God as it moves among us, animates us, and moves each and all toward Christ. But, again, the Psalmist has a word of contemplative wisdom:

In God alone there is rest for my soul,
from him comes my safety;
He alone is my rock, my safety, my stronghold so that I stand
unshaken.
Psalm 62: 1-2

Prayers for Alan

Alan Creech has developed a nagging upper respiratory thingie. Prayers for him from here, etc.

Happy Thanksgiving from the DailyDig

Life is a Banquet
Dorothy Day
We cannot love God unless we love each other. We know him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore. Heaven is a banquet, and life is a banquet too - even with a crust - where there is companionship. We have all known loneliness, and we have learned that the only solution is love, and that love comes with community.
Dorothy Day: "The Long Loneliness"

THEOOZE - The faith of a blind man

This is something I need this week. Thank you, God.

The faith of a blind man, of a beggar, and thief,
Is all that I ask from your hand,
That mustard seed grows to the greatest of trees
And gives rest to the sparrows you feed.

You clothe me in lilies, and pour oil on my head
My wounds you have gently caressed,
When I look at my self in the mirror of life
I see nothing but weak fallen flesh.

How can you love me, pursue me like this?
You know I am not what I seem,
But you formed me, and knew me, in all of my weakness,
And have chosen to be Father to me…

You shatter the mountains by the word of your mouth,
With your nostrils you parted the sea,
You raised your dead Son from the grave unto Life,
And you offer His Spirit to me.

The faith of a blindman, of a beggar, and thief,
Is all that I ask from your hand…
by James Schmidt

Community and the Fruit of the Spirit

This probing piece by Aaron Klinefelter took my breath away. Which is to say, I got all exercised and had to sit down to comment.

My comments:
The possibility of and desire for Community, as I see it, even among "pre-Christians" (Sjorgren) is animated by the Trinitarian nature of all creation. It's not just the desparately needed response to our current "American funk." It is the cry deep within all creation, that only God can satisfy, and embodies His mysterious plan (Col. 1., Eph. 1-3, etc.). The Psalmist, ever the truth teller, proclaims, "How good it is, how pleasant, where the people dwell as one!" (Psalm 133:1 NAB). The western evangelical call for personal salvation mitigates, in some troubling ways, against the formation of Trinitarian relationships (See Steve Bush's essay at What is Salvation). In our brokenness, as Aaron points out, we fall short of allowing God, in His Mercy, to bear the Fruits of of Spirit (Gal. 5:22) in us.

The Fruits of the Spirit transcend culture; they are not Eastern or Western or Occidental or African, or Aboriginal, or even "American", etc. They are universal, and God will grow them anywhere His creation recognizes its utter dependence on God's Grace for its being and purpose, and willfully surrenders to His Love. He grows them in us that we might be fully our true selves, full of Christ, each and all. To the extent a culture convinces itself that the Fruits are its alone, or that the Fruit of the Spirit are primarily for individual growth in the Spirit, it is, again, broken. Why would God grow this Fruit in us if not to nourish us, each and all together, as we grow in likeness to Jesus?

Kevin Rains's Reflection on Luke 19:29-38

Kevin's recent posts are so "it" for me, since I have been there, thanks to longstanding spinal column issues. Unable to walk, unable to do for oneself. God's Grace/Cleveland Clinic/Neurosurgery, now I can walk. Kevin is so right in this latest Lectio reflection, "The Lord needs it". Kevin writes:

"What a vulnerable king we have. A voluntary vulnerability to identify with us in our weakness.A king that needs to borrow a donkey. A king helped onto the donkey by his friends. "The Lord needs it." A Lord with needs. ... It is harder to receive than it is to give. ... I've been a receiver. I've been a dependant. ... I have an acute sense of what it means to be in need. It feels vulnerable. I feel like a burden."

Of course, the big lie the world wants us to believe is that we are not weak, that we shouldn't need anything or anybody, that we are kings and queens of all we survey, and that the whole creation is ours to command. The Big Truth is that our true self, Christ in us, alive in us, is poor and vulnerable, crucifiable, and in need. In his reflection, Kevin canonizes his wife because she is lovingly responding to his current involuntary dependence on her. He also notes that it feels vulnerable and like he is a burden. My guess is that Jesus felt vulnerable, too, that he had to rely on His friends to get up on a borrowed donkey, that they wouldn't get it (no kidding), and that He would be alone. But He was vulnerable in the context of living in the Boundless Love of the Trinity. I am reminded of this little piece, one of my favorite passages of the New Testament, in 1 Cor 1:18-31:

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside. "Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast 11 before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."

Prayers, unceasingly, for Kevin and his household of faith.

The Real Debate (Thanks Jim Wallis)

Jim Wallis almost always calls a spade a spade, and deception deception. This excerpt from today's SojoMail speaks prophetically, in my view, to what's behind the fog of the ongoing political/moral/religious war at hand in the US.

A flawed exit poll question has sparked an enormous and important political debate in America, and one that will be with us far beyond this election. Voters were asked to name the most important issue that influenced their vote and almost 22% chose "moral values," just edging out terrorism and the economy. That poll result has sparked a firestorm in the media and in Washington's political circles about who gets or doesn't get the "moral values issue." Conventional wisdom holds that the Republicans do get it and the Democrats don't, and the "moral values" answer on the survey simply indicated voters who are against abortion and gay marriage.

But of course a Christian who cares deeply about peace likely would have checked the war in Iraq (one of the choices) instead of moral values, and a Catholic coordinator of a food pantry likely would have checked the closest thing to poverty, which would have been the economy or health care. The single "moral values" question was a whole different kind of choice to the rest of the "issues," ignoring the moral values inherent in those other concerns.

A post-election poll conducted by Zogby International a few days later confirmed that when a list of specific issues was asked, the results were quite different. When asked which "moral issue most influenced your vote," 42% chose war in Iraq while 13% said abortion and 9% said same-sex marriage. The "most urgent moral problem in American culture" resulted in 33% selecting "greed and materialism," 31% "poverty and economic justice," 16% abortion, and 12% same-sex marriage. The "greatest threat to marriage" was identified as "infidelity" by 31%, "rising financial burdens" by 25%, and "same-sex marriage" by 22%.

...

It's time to spark a real debate in this country over what the most important "religious issues" and "moral values" in politics are - and how broadly and deeply they are understood. Religion doesn't fall neatly into right and left categories. If there were ever candidates running with a strong set of personal moral values and a commitment to be pro-poor and pro-peace, it could
build many bridges to the other side. Personal and social responsibility are both at the heart of religion, and the two together could make a very powerful and compelling political vision for the future of our bitterly divided nation.

Did the exit poll takers coopt any meaningful responses to the question of influence by separating war, poverty, terrorisn and the economy from the moral sphere? If I were asked these questions, I would have refused to answer, based on the conviction that these are all moral issues. What I would also have said is that the ultimate "moral" issue for me is truth telling, and there was not much of that going around. All sides in this most recent political season have rotten fruit growing on their trees. If you eat enough of it, you are bound to get sick. If you eat just the right apple, you might think you know it all (see Genesis). The symptoms seem to be a rejection of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) in all public discourse. Especially regarding love of enemies and preferential option for the poor.

Widening our circle of compassion

A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature.
Albert Einstein

From 11/17/04 DailyDig. Thank you, Albert, for this reminder. Brings to mind this from Col 1: 15-20:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross (through him), whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Simple Graces of Humility and Love

This bit of wisdom from Chris Marshall rocks:

Ordinary Community: "The answer is not to bash Michael Moore and the rest of hollywood. The answer is not to play pop-philosophy with elementary logic about truth. The answer is not to preach to the choir about how right you are. The answer is the Incarnation. The answer is to enter in, not to declare that your right, but to love. Truth does not need to be defended, it shows itself to be true. Students need people who care enough to give them a reason to encounter Truth. When oh when are we going to learn? Its not a battle over ideas, its a spiritual battle for hearts. We don't need anymore 'us vs. them' dichotomies, we need to embrace all those outside of the Kingdom of God as his missing children. We are as pompous and prideful as the Pharisees, we lack the simple graces of humility and love. I am beginning to really embrace being an influencer as a teacher, but I share little in common with this propaganda of a culture war. I am not interested in cultural issues, I'm interested in the heart, for that is where our external behaviors come from. We don't love because we memorize long Bible passages about love. We love because the Spirit of the Scriptures is within us and compels us to be like Christ as revealed in the Bible. Postmodernism is not a threat. Relgious minded arrogance is the threat I'm concerned with. "

About Scary Conversations

Aaron Klinefelter has started a scary conversation about folks who do ministry being paid for their efforts. Wonderful read, including the copious comments he has already had. Here are my reflections on the matter. Admittedly, I don't really know what I am talking about, but, I thought I would give it a try anyway.

Bringing together some of the thoughts already expressed, here is a thought, which probably counts for nothing...

So, what you perhaps end up with is the communitarian expression lived out by the Anabaptists in this country. Or, maybe, its the expression practiced by the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, at the Little Portion Hermitage, in Arkansas. Or maybe its V&B or VC in Cincinnati. Or, maybe, it's the parish church. In any case, the idea is that we draw strength for the journey from the experience of God's Grace and Mercy enfleshed in real life together. For married people and children, this should be something they experience first in the family (see Ephesians 5). For singles and committed celibates, lots of options, huh. But, in my opinion, whatever the expression, the focus should be on relying on the Grace and Mercy of God to end up with really transformed lives -- true selves, to use Mertonesque language.

And this is what Paul was up to, as Alan Creech already stated in his comments. Paul was going around planting, starting, encouraging, proclaiming. And not really of his own account, really. He had commissions, both from the Lord and from the other apostles, no. IMHO, he saw himself as no lone ranger, but as part of the larger group of believers, etc. So, in that sense, 1 Cor 9 can be seen as an admonition that the believers should see him as one of them, and extend the same interdependence to him as to one another and to folks in other local groups of believers who were in need. This isn't coming out to clearly, but I hope you get my meaning.
Now for the problems/challenges ...

Insularity
Self-righteousness
Our Brokenness because of the Fall
Mission

Holy Fools

Ushers of the next generation in the church.
by Richard Rohr, O.F.M.

This article by Richard Rohr was orginally published in Sojourners magazine. Read the whole article for a very insightful view of the future of the church. It came to my attention, oddly enought, during the recent US General Election. For starters, I am reminded that the whole body of Christ is very broken right now over the re-election of GWB as president. It is an especially sinister violence against the Broken One. Time for mercy, repentence, and forgiveness by each and all.

"Was Jesus playing the holy fool or just being a curmudgeon when he quoted Hosea to well-informed and well-intentioned believers: "What I want is mercy and not your heroic sacrifices!" (Matthew 9:13, 12:7, 23:23)? The holy fool knows that there is an agenda that is beyond efficiency, rightness, and being in control of outcomes. The mystics call it "union with God." Meister Eckhart put it best of all: "If the soul could have known God without the world, the world would never have been created." In the realm of the Spirit, although not in the realm of logic, everything belongs. This horrible time, this broken church, no less than the murdering of Christ, is good teacher and savior. Romano Guardini, a fervent Italian monsignor, said in the 1950s that "the church has always been the cross that Christ is crucified on." The tomb of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, I would add."

Richard Rohr, O.F.M., founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and author of Radical Grace (St. Anthony Messenger, 1993), was a Sojourners contributing editor when this article appeared.

Even If You Stand in Battle

From 11/06/04 Burderhof Daily Dig

...Have the patience and courage to begin again each day, and believe that God's mercy is new every morning. Then you will understand that life is always a matter of becoming or growing, and that you can always look forward to greater things. Even though you stand in battle with dark powers, the victory will be yours, since in Christ every evil is overcome. You will always remain at the beginning, because the task continually grows, yet in faith you will find the fulfillment of all your longing...
Eberhard Arnold