Spiritual Synergy

Discipleship Now

2008-07-25T15:32:00.005Z

Though costly, discipleship once had a very clear, straightforward meaning. The mechanics are not the same today. We cannot literally be with him [Christ] in the same way as his first disciples could. But the priorities and intentions--the heart or inner attitudes--of disciples are forever the same. In the heart of a disciple there is a desire, and there is a decision or settled intent. Having come to some understanding of what it means, and thus having "counted up the costs," the disciple of Christ desires above all else to be like him. Thus, "it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher" (Matthew 10:25). And moreover, "everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher" (Luke 6:40).

Given this desire, usually produced by the lives and words of those already in the Way, there is still a decision to be made: the decision to devote oneself to becoming like Christ. The disciple is one who, intent upon becoming Christ-like and so dwelling in his "faith and practice," systematically and progressively rearranges his affairs to that end. By these decisions and actions, even today, one enrolls in Christ's training, becomes his pupil or disciple. There is no other way. We must keep this in mind should we, as disciples, decide to make disciples.

In contrast, the nondisciple, whether inside or outside the church, has something "more important" to do or undertake than to become like Jesus Christ. He or she has "bought a piece of ground," perhaps, or even five yoke of oxen, or has taken a spouse (Luke 14:18-19). Such lame excuses only reveal that something on that dreary list of security, reputation, wealth, power, sensual indulgence, or mere distraction and numbness, still retains his or her ultimate allegiance. Or if someone has seen through these, he or she may not know the alternative--not know, especially, that it is possible to live under the care and governance of God, working and living with him as Jesus did, always "seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."

A mind cluttered by excuses may make a mystery of discipleship, or it may see it as something to be dreaded. But there is no mystery about desiring and intending to be like someone--that is a very common thing. And if we really do intend to be like Christ, that will be obvious to every thoughtful person around us, as well as to ourselves. Of course, attitudes that define the disciple cannot be realized today by leaving family and business to accompany Jesus on his travels about the countryside. But discipleship can be made concrete by actively learning how to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, walk the second mile with an oppressor--in general, living out the gracious inward transformations of faith, hope, and love. Such acts--carried out by the disciplined person with manifest grace, peace, and joy--make discipleship no less tangible and shocking today than were those desertions of long ago. Anyone who will enter into the Way can verify this, and he or she will at the same time prove that discipleship is far from dreadful.

-- Dallas Willard from his article, "Discipleship for Super Christians Only?" included in his book, The Great Omission. Definitely worth the read!

A Book Recommendation

2008-07-11T20:26:00.003Z

Our church small group has just finished reading Deep-Rooted in Christ: The way of transformation by Joshua Choonmin Kang. Foreword by Richard Foster. Kang is a man who has authored numerous books in Korean, but this is his first book in English. The book is what the title says, a book that points to the way of transformation by being rooted in Christ. The book contains 52 chapters, and each chapter is short and easily read in one sitting. Although the pages are short, the material is full of spiritual wisdom. Two of my favorite chapters were "Discipline of Shepherding" and "A Vessel for the Power of God."

A couple of quotes: "Spiritual formation begins the day we meet Jesus. That day we begin to understand our true identities. First, we get a glimpse of our ugly side. Second, we discover our splendid, unlimited potential. Such a vision of our true nature is one of the great gifts God gives us.

"Spiritual discipline is about keeping the instrument pure and simple. Spiritual discipline is about denying ourselves. Spiritual discipline is about losing our edge in this world, only to regain the spiritual edge when God does the sharpening."

This is a good, solid book that will benefit anybody that is pursuing a deeper union with Christ and a life transformed by the Holy Spirit.

John Chrysostom on Self-Judgment

2008-07-09T14:38:00.004Z

Let us not be overcurious about the failings of others, but take account of our own; let us reckon up the excellences of other men, while we bear in mind our faults; and thus shall we be well pleasing to God.

For he who looks at the faults of others, and at his own excellences, is injured in two ways: by the latter he is carried up to arrogance, through the former he falls into listlessness. For when he perceives that such a one has sinned, very easily will he sin himself; when he perceives that he has in anything excelled, very easily he becomes arrogant. He who consigns to oblivion his own excellences, and looks at his failings only, while he is a curious enquirier of the excellences--not the sins--of others, he is profited in many ways.

And how? When he sees that such a one has done excellently, he is raised to emulate the same; when he sees that he himself has sinned, he is rendered humble and modest. If we act thus, if we thus regulate ourselves, we shall be able to obtain the good things which are promised, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ.-- from Homilies on Philippians

A time of spiritual self-assessment

2008-03-13T13:04:00.004Z

Do you observe the season of Lent? Do you give up chocolate? Maybe you stop drinking coffee for 40 days. Do you even think about the time of Lent? If somebody asked you how you felt about Lent, would your response be, “I hate it when it sticks to my dark colored sweaters!”? For many parts of the church around the world, Lent is a time of spiritual preparation for the joyful celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Here’s a little of the history and meaning behind the season of Lent.

In the earliest days of the church, Lent began as a day of fasting in preparation for water baptism, which usually occurred during the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of the oldest Christian documents, The Didache (literally, “The Teaching”—written around 120 AD), instructed concerning baptism: “Before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever others can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.” And so the practice began.

Over time the one or two days became five or six days. It was a time when new Christians were taught the faith and life of Christianity before their baptism. But eventually the church grew and baptisms occurred at times other than Resurrection Sunday, so it was no longer just a preparation for baptism. By 325 AD the season of Lent had stretched to a time of 40 days, probably in keeping with Jesus’ own fast of 40 days.

The 40 days were seen as a time for self-assessment in regard to the step that was taken at baptism when the believers had declared themselves “dead to sin” but “risen with Christ to new life” (see Romans 6:3-4). Even for those who had been Christians for many years, this time of personal “taking stock” helped the individual to see their personal weaknesses, to recognize their need for continued repentance, and to renew their longing for the life and power of the risen Christ.

On the basis of this historical explanation, I would suggest that many of us could use a season of “lent,” of stopping and looking at our spiritual condition and renewing our desire for more of the life of Christ.

Perhaps this prayer from the late 4th century by Ephrem the Syrian, considered by many Christians to be the classic Lent prayer, will help to display the attitude to be adopted during the time of Lent:

O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yes, O Lord and King!
Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother;
For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.

This prayer sets out the negatives and the positives of repentance and prepares the heart for the joyful reality that Christ is risen from the dead. Spiritual laziness, spiritual weakness, pride and lust for power, and empty talk all cause us to spiritually fragment. We no longer have Christ as the center of our existence, and we can end up running in too many different directions—usually self-centered directions.

The translation of “chastity” from the original Syriac means much more than just sexual purity; it carries the notion of “whole-mindedness.” When we have this whole-mindedness, we are centered in our need for Christ and the power that He gives as we learn to walk in the Holy Spirit. This awareness brings with it a sense of humility as we see our own need, patience with others as we see that we aren’t really any better than they are, and love for all people—not as a “potential convert” or as a subject of my “good deed for the week” but as a living, feeling, person for whom Christ died.

If we try to live a “good life” in our own strength and power, we are going to fall short every time. As Paul stated, “I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t” (Romans 7:18 Living Bible).

Is Lent found in the Bible? No. It is not a practice explicitly commanded by God. It’s simply a church tradition that has grown up over the centuries, but the season of Lent can be much more than giving up one thing or another for a few days in hopes of somehow pleasing God and gaining a blessing. Rather it can be a time of jumping off the treadmill of life and recognizing that in our own strength we can’t do all that God asks of us, but thankfully God doesn’t leave us there.

The recognition of our weaknesses and failures causes us to look gratefully and joyfully toward the time when we can celebrate the fact that Christ has risen from the dead; He has ascended to the Father in heaven; and He has sent His Holy Spirit to transform our lives and make us new creations in Him. “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Fanning the flame

2007-11-02T13:58:00.000Z

Why is it so easy to lose the warmth of our desire for God? Life's anxieties, problems, worries, and activities seem to be constantly warring against a burning passion for God. Often it becomes a case of what concerns me rather than what contributes to my relationship with God. The truth is we allow our busy western lives to crowd out the time needed to develop the true intimacy with God that keeps the flame of love for God alive. How do we fan the flame?

Seraphim of Sarov put it this way: "God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. And so, if we feel in our hearts coldness, which is from the devil--for the devil is cold--then let us call upon the Lord, and he will come and warm our hearts with perfect love not only for him, but for our neighbor as well. And from the presence of the warmth, the coldness of the hater of good will be driven away."

We start by asking God in his grace to stir our hearts with a new burning desire for him. Sometimes the best prayer we can offer is simply, "God, help me to want to know you." As we start with this simple request, God responds in his love and grace, and we then begin to make the willful decision to cooperate with him as he stirs that love in our hearts. He does his part, and we do ours.

The English 14th century monk, Richard Rolle, called one of his books, The Fire of Love. For Rolle, every part of his devotion to God was to burn as a consuming flame that would rid him of all that stood in the way of his love for God and the divine relationship that Christ came to make a reality.

May we strive for this kind of love, setting aside all that would hinder or make our hearts go cold, until we burst into flame renewed with a passionate burning of love for God.

A life of total devotion from Teresa of Avila

2007-08-13T16:15:00.001Z

I recently found this rather rare poem from Teresa of Avila. It reflects a life wholly devoted to God--a high and lofty goal.

I am Thine, and born for Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Sov'reign Lord upon Thy throne,
Endless Wisdom, One and Whole,
Goodness that does feed my soul,
Good and great, One God alone:
Vile Thou seest me, yet Thine own,
As I sing my love for Thee.
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Thine I am, for Thou didst make me;
Thine, for Thou alone didst save me;
Thine--Thou couldst endure to have me;
For Thine own didst deign to take me.
Never once didst Thou forsake me.
Ruined were I but for Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

What, O good and loving Lord,
Wilt Thou have this creature do?
This Thy slave, a sinner too,
Waiting till she hears Thy word?
With Thy will in close accord,
Sweetest Love, I come to Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Take, O Lord, my loving heart:
See, I yield it to Thee whole,
With my body, life and soul
And my nature's every part.
Sweetest Spouse, my Life Thou art;
I have given myself to Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Let me live, or let me die;
Give me sickness, give me health;
Give me poverty or wealth;
Let me strive or peaceful lie.
Weakness give or strength supply--
I accept it all of Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Fame or shame I may be given;
Chasten me or make me glad;
Comfort me or make me sad;
Send me hell or grant me Heaven.
Sun, with veil forever riven,
I have yielded all to Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Teach me, if Thou wilt, to pray;
If Thou wilt not, make me dry.
Give me love abundantly
Or unfruitful let me stay.
Sov'reign Master, I obey.
Peace I find not save with Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Give, I pray Thee, wisdom true,
Or remove it all from me;
Plenteous years I fain would see;
Years of drought and leanness too.
Days of light and darkness through,
Send me where Thou'd'st have me be:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

If in ease Thou'lt have me lie,
I accept it for Thy love;
If my constancy Thou'lt prove,
May I suffer till I die.
Tell me, sweetest Love, I cry,
How and when to die for Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Waste or fruitful land be mine,
Tabor's joy or Calvary's Cross.
Job be I, with pain and loss,
John, and on Thy breast recline.
Sterile stock or fruitful vine,
As Thou will'st it, may I be:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Joseph, captive once in chains,
Rule in Egypt over all.
David, held in cruel thrall,
Soon a crown and kingdom gains.
Jonah suffers direst pains;
Then is cast up from the sea:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Let me speak or hold my peace,
Rich or barren as Thou wilt;
Let the Law proclaim my guilt
Or the Gospel give release.
Let me joys or pains increase.
All my life I live in Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

I am Thine, and born for Thee:
What wilt Thou have done with me?

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Major transition

2007-08-01T14:45:00.000Z

My family and I have just completed a major move across the pond from England back to the USA. After over 21 years in England, we felt that it was time to return to the USA. We will continue to do the work that we do with Searchlight Ministries (www.searchlight-missions.org); in fact, we hope to increase our efforts in producing helpful resources for Christians around the world. Hopefully this blog will soon return to a normal routine of new material. I just wanted to state the reason for the long silence.

Bruce

What's your story?

2007-02-16T14:49:00.000Z

I am a great lover of biographies. I try to read the lives of the good and the great in a number of fields and walks of life. I'm currently reading the life of Winston Churchill and the incredible role that he played in the monumental conflicts of World War II. A few days ago, I was reading a short biography of the former UN Secretary General, Dag Hammerskjold. As I reflected on some of the quotations from his own diaries, Markings, I thought how easy it is for me, or for anyone, to hide behind the stories of other people. Because I can easily recount the heroic moral and spiritual exploits of others, I somehow justify the fact that much of the time the story of my own life may not be very heroic or spiritually inspiring.

Perhaps that's why our society is so consumed with "celebrity" or hero worship in its various forms. Maybe this is why the phenomenon of "reality TV" has reached such unimaginable heights (or perhaps "depths" would be more accurate). People tend to live their lives through others. They watch movies, reality shows, celebrity lives, and they don't have to face the fact that the story of their own lives isn't really saying much. Unfortunately this can be true for Christians as much as it can be for others. We have to admit that the cult of celebrity has infiltrated Christianity as much as it has other areas of society.

As I sat thinking about Dag Hammerskjold and the impact that one life story can have on those around it, I felt convicted that I have often avoided the story that God wants to write with my own life. Maybe the story was going to involve risks, or sacrifice, or steps into the unknown, and I simply wasn't ready... or willing. Maybe you can say the same about your own story.

The truth is we're all called to allow God to write a story with our lives. It may not necessarily be on the level of a Winston Churchill or David Livingstone or Dag Hammerskjold, but God wants to write a story that, when read, will bring glory to him. The story we allow him to write will be seen primarily through the relationships we develop and the people that we allow to impact our personal world.

The apostle Paul could say to the Corinthian Christians, "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). What a challenging comment!

The world around us is looking for good news. Christians carry within them the Spirit of the living God who is constantly writing his glorious eternal story of life and hope. What story are you allowing him to write with your life?

John Chrysostom on Mercy

2007-02-09T09:54:00.000Z

I was all set to post something else today, but this morning I read the Introductory Discourse to Chrysostom's Homilies on Philippians. I thought this was a challenging excerpt on Mercy.

"Let us put on this ornament. Let us make a golden chain for our soul, of mercy I mean, while we are here. For if this age pass, we can use it no longer. And why? THERE there are no poor, THERE there are no riches, no more want THERE. While we are children, let us not rob ourselves of this ornament. For as with children, if they become men, these are taken away, and they are advanced to other adornment; so too is it with us. There will be no more alms by money, but other and far nobler. Let us not then deprive ourselves of this! Let us make our soul appear beautiful! Great is alms, beautiful, and honorable, great is that gift, but greater is goodness.

"If we learn to despise riches, we shall learn other things besides. For behold how many good things spring from hence! He that gives alms, as he ought to give, learns to despise wealth. He that has learned to despise wealth has cut up the root of evils. So that he does not do a greater good than he receives, not merely in that there is a due recompense and a requital for alms, but also in that his soul becomes philosophic, and elevated, and rich. He that gives alms is instructed not to admire riches or gold. And this lesson once fixed in his mind, he has gotten a great step toward mounting to Heaven, and has cut away ten thousand occasions of strife, and contention, and envy, and dejection. For you know, you too know, that all things are done for riches, and unnumbered wars are made for riches. But he that has learned to despise them, has placed himself in a quiet harbor, he no longer fears damage.

"For this has alms taught him. He no longer desires what is his neighbor's; for how should he, that parts with his own, and gives? He no longer envies the rich man; for how should he, that is willing to become poor? He clears the eye of his soul.

"And these are but here. But hereafter it is not to be told what blessings he shall win. He shall not abide without with the foolish virgins, but shall enter in with those that were wise, together with the Bridegroom, having his lamps bright. And though they have endured hardship in virginity, he that has not so much as tasted these hardships shall be better than they. Such is the power of Mercy. She brings in her nurslings with much boldness. For she is known to the porters in Heaven, that keep the gates of the Bride-Chamber, and not known only, but reverenced; and those whom she knows to have honored her, she will bring in with much boldness, and none will gainsay, but all make room.

"For if she brought God down to earth, and persuaded him to become man, much more shall she be able to raise a man to Heaven; for great is her might. If then from mercy and lovingkindness God became man, and He persuaded himself to become a servant, much rather will He bring his servants into his own house.

"Her [mercy] let us love, on her let us set our affection, not one day, nor two, but all our life long, that she may acknowledge us. If she acknowledge us, the Lord will acknowledge us too. If she disown us, the Lord too will disown us, and will say, 'I do not know you.' But may it not be ours to hear this voice, but that happy one instead, 'Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world' (Matthew 25:34). Which may we all obtain, by his grace and lovingkindness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory, strength, honor, now and for ever, and world without end. Amen."

John Chrysostom (c. 400)

It's not all about us

2007-02-01T14:05:00.001Z

One of my goals for this year is to read through Butler's Lives of the Saints. Every day there is a brief, or not so brief, biography of some spiritual male or female forerunner from the past centuries. More often than not I am left challenged by the character, spirituality, and devotion that is seen in the lives of the saints.

A couple of days ago I was reading about a man named Peter Nolasco. He lived in Spain in the 13th century at a time when the Moors possessed a considerable part of Spain. Consequently, numerous Christians were suffering under the tyranny of slavery both in Spain and in Africa. Peter Nolasco was moved to compassion by the thought of all these believers being under the yoke of slavery, so he started an order whose specific objective was to free as many of these slaves as he possibly could. He and his order worked tirelessly to redeem captives from many locations and situations. His life was literally spent for others. Butler sums up Peter Nolasco's life with the following comments:

"Charity towards all mankind was a distinguishing feature in the character of the saints. This benevolent virtue so entirely possessed their hearts that they were constantly disposed to sacrifice even their lives to the relief and assistance of others. Zealously employed in removing their temporal necessities, they laboured with redoubled vigour to succour their spiritual wants, by rooting out from their souls the dominion of sin, and substituting in its room the kingdom of God's grace. This conduct of the saints, extraordinary as it is, ceases to appear surprising when we recollect the powerful arguments our Blessed Saviour makes use of to excite us to the love of our neighbour. But how shall we justify our unfeeling hard-heartedness, that seeks every trifling pretence to exempt us from the duty of succouring the unfortunate? Have we forgot that Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who alone has bestowed on us whatever we possess, has made charity towards our fellow-creature, but especially towards the needy, an indispensable precept? Do we not know that he bids us consider the suffering poor as members of the same head, heirs of the same promises, as our brothers and his children who represent him on earth?"

It's easy to forget, but the simple truth is that following Christ is so much more than getting our spiritual blessings and fulfilling our life goals. It's about living for Christ and for others. And one thing is certain: It's not all about us.

The breastplate prayer

2006-08-21T09:05:00.000Z

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ, be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left.
Christ when I lie, Christ when I sit, Christ when I arise.
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord,
Salvation is of the Christ,
May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

--St. Patrick

Resting in the mercy of God

2006-08-07T15:22:00.000Z

Recently I have been reading through the works of Teresa of Avila. Included is a small collection of prayers that she wrote at various times after she had taken Communion. Some of them are quite stirring as she is overcome with the greatness, holiness, and majesty of almighty God. I will try to post a few over the next few days.

"O Lord, my God, Thou hast indeed the words of life (John 6:69), wherein, if we will seek it, we mortals shall all find what we desire. But what wonder is it, my God, that we should forget Thy words when our evil deeds have made us so infirm and foolish? O my God! God, God the Maker of all things created! And yet what are all things created, Lord, if Thou shouldst be pleased to create more? Thou art almighty; Thy works are incomprehensible (Job 9:10). Grant, then, Lord, that Thy words may never be absent from my thoughts.

"Thou sayest: 'Come to Me, all you that labour and are burdened: and I will comfort you' (Matthew 11:28). What more do we want, Lord? What do we ask for? What do we seek? Why are worldly people lost if not because they are seeking repose? O God! O God! What is this, Lord? How sad a pity! How blind of us to seek repose where it cannot possibly be found! Have mercy, Creator, on these Thy creatures. Reflect that we do not understand ourselves, or know what we desire, nor are we able to ask as we should. Give us light, Lord. Behold, we need it more than the man who was blind from his birth (John 9:1), for he wished to see the light and could not, whereas nowadays, Lord, no one wishes to see it. Oh, what a hopeless ill this is! Here, my God, must be manifested Thy power and Thy mercy.

"Ah, how hard a thing am I asking of Thee, my true God! I ask Thee to love one who loves Thee not, to open to one who has not called upon Thee, to give health to one who prefers to be sick and who even goes about in search of sickness. Thou sayest, my Lord, that Thou comest to seek sinners; these, Lord, are the true sinners. Look not upon our blindness, my God, but upon all the blood that was shed for us by Thy Son. Let Thy mercy shine out amid such tremendous wickedness. Behold, Lord, we are the works of Thy hands (Isaiah 64:8). Help us by Thy goodness and mercy."

Teresa of Avila (1569)

To will one thing

2006-07-27T09:21:00.000Z

The following is the introductory prayer to Soren Kierkegaard's book, Purity of Heart. It pretty much says it.

"Father in Heaven! What is a man without Thee! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know Thee! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know Thee: Thee the One, who art one thing and who art all! So may Thou give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may Thou grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing. Oh, Thou that giveth both the beginning and the completion, may Thou early, at the dawn of day, give to the young man the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may Thou give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.

"Alas, but this has indeed not come to pass. Something has come in between. The separation of sin lies in between. Each day, and day after day something is being placed in between: delay, blockage, interruption, delusion, corruption. So in this time of repentance may Thou give the courage once again to will one thing. True, it is an interruption of our ordinary tasks; we do lay down our work as though it were a day of rest, when the penitent (and it is only in a time of repentance that the heavy-laden worker may be quiet in the confession of sin) is alone before Thee in self-accusation. This is indeed an interruption. But it is an interruption that searches back into its very beginnings that it might bind up anew that which sin has separated, that in its grief it might atone for lost time, that in its anxiety it might bring to completion that which lies before it. Oh, Thou that gives both the beginning and the completion, give Thou victory in the day of need so that what neither a man's burning wish nor his determined resolution may attain to, may be granted unto him in the sorrowing of repentance: to will only one thing."

Soren Kierkegaard (1846)

Things needed for spiritual growth

2006-07-26T09:04:00.000Z

Many are the things of which the believer has need in order to attain knowledge of God and virtue: deliverance from passions, patient acceptance of trials, the inner principles of virtues, the practice of methods of spiritual warfare, the uprooting of the soul's predilection for the flesh, the breaking of the senses' attachment to sensible objects, the utter withdrawal of the intellect from all created things; and, in short, there are countless other things which help us to reject sin and ignorance and to attain knowledge and virtue. It was surely because of this that the Lord said, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22), stating simply that the devout must seek and ask with understanding and faith for all those things, and for those alone, which lead to virtue and knowledge of God. For all these things are profitable, and unquestionably the Lord gives them to those who ask.

--Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

Recovering the art of sacrifice

2006-06-27T18:26:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I followed a bunch of blog links (which for the life of me I cannot remember) and ended up at an interesting article written by a man who had met a rather sad character on a business flight. Since reading the article a few thoughts have been buzzing incessantly around in my mind. The events went something like this. The author of the article was seated by a man who was extremely successful in the television industry. He owned several stations, etc. He was a self-made man, and the amazing thing about him was that he had not completed university until he was nearly 35, because he had stopped his studies on several occasions to go back to work to support his other brothers and sisters. He had made numerous sacrifices for others in the midst of his efforts for his own advancement. (The exact details escape me.) Anyway, he had just come from the graduation of one of his children (he had six from two marriages), and he was expressing his dismay at how spoiled and selfish his own child was. The author of the article listened to all the man had to say, then made a comment that went something like this: "It seems to me that after you had such an uphill struggle in making your own way in the world, you did everything in your power to protect your children from any need for sacrifice or hard work, and now you have raised children that you can't respect."

Ka-WHAM! This hit me right between the eyes! Is there any society in all of history that is so spoiled, that has things so easy? I don't think so. And I will be the first to admit that there are times when I make every effort to be sure that my kids "don't go without." I have to think that maybe in the midst of all the comforts and conveniences, we might be losing the development of character, which is more important than the others, by far! Consequently, we are spiritually atrophied and often deformed. There is very little in the way of spiritual exercise, because we don't have to work for anything, we don't have to strive for anything, because God wants us to have it all. Our gospel has turned much of scripture on its head, and instead of us striving to live lives of gratitude to God, we make sure that just about every verse in the Bible is seen to be showing what God is going to do for us.

I remember when I was younger and zealous and idealistic, and all that kind of exciting stuff, one of my favourite scriptures was David's declaration at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite: "I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing" (2 Samuel 24:24). There was an element of cost in our discipleship. If it didn't cost, what was it worth? We almost wanted it to cost, because we had grasped the principle that sacrifice brings blessing. I had to admit that this verse had not crossed my mind for way too long. Nowadays a lot of churches do everything in their power to make the message of the gospel cost as little as possible. "We'll make this as easy as we can. Just let us know if we offend you in any way, and we'll change things for you."

I don't want to turn this into a monstrous rambling on, but I have been stirred to consider how I am living my life for my God, my family, other believers, and the world around me. Am I living a life that willingly embraces sacrifice? Am I sacrificing myself in ways that are going to bring the blessing of God in the eternal, unseen realm--where it really matters? Sacrifice has kind of become a dirty and forgotten word in our affluent, over-indulgent society. I realise that sacrifice just for the sake of sacrifice is of no value to anybody, least of all to me, but when there is a situation that means I can pursue my own wants or put others before myself, what is usually my first instinctive action? I'm going to make an effort to get the word "sacrifice" back into my regular vocabulary, and into my daily life, with God's help.

Jesus, the washer of feet

2006-04-19T10:34:00.000Z

Last week in the days before Easter Sunday our church had a series of half-hour meditations every evening of the week. It was a good time of spiritual preparation for the all-important events of Easter weekend. On the first night, we took a look at the time in the upper room when Jesus was with his disciples and when he washed his disciples' feet. This is a story I have heard, read, and recounted more times than I could count. Yet one or two points that my good friend, Ian Mathews, made really struck me.

The first point Ian made is that "Jesus knew". He knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father (John 13:1). He knew that Judas Iscariot had already been prompted to betray him (13:2). And he knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God (13:3). Jesus knew his position, his power, and that this was his moment of destiny. So what does he do in the light of that knowledge? In one sense, he could have done whatever he wanted--the end was near, he knew he was about to return to glory, he knew how the whole thing was going to play out. What speeches should he give? What rousing encouragement to the men sitting in the room, afraid and uncertain? There are no rousing speeches, no displays of glory; he washes his disciples' feet.

For some reason when I heard this it astounded me. We are so quick to focus on many aspects and actions of Jesus' life and ministry. We want to emulate him and laud him for diffent parts of his work and character. These days we tend to focus on the victorious and prominent aspects: Jesus CEO, King of kings, Conquering Lord, Risen Saviour, etc. All those things are good and right(okay, I'm not so sure about the CEO thing). But here, at his final meal with his disciples, the men that he was entrusting with his message and the proclamation of the kingdom, he sets them an example by washing their feet.

Then he takes it further: "you also should wash one another's feet." "No servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one that sent him" (13:16). A tall order, and one that we often choose to conveniently set aside.

I have been in some churches where they take this command literally. Some times it is after communion, and the basins of water will be brought out, and members of the church will wash each others' feet. There is something humbling about this, and it does bring a sense of close fellowship, but I have to confess that sometimes I think that would be the easy option.

I believe that if we are to follow Jesus' example of washing feet, it means looking out for others' needs before our own, just as a servant in a household would do. It means not always obsessing over whether or not we're getting our fair due, the recognition we deserve, our appropriate piece of the pie, whatever the pie may be. It means throwing off the mindset of this world that bombards us with the fact that we are indeed the centre of the universe and that our personal happiness and contentment should be at the top of everybody's agenda. It means being willing to sacrifice our own wants, desires, and plans for others.

There are so many pictures and images of Jesus in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. It's impossible to keep them all always before us. For awhile I think I want to dwell on him as the washer of feet. And by his grace and with lots and lots of help from him, I want to try to follow that example. "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" (John 13:17).

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!

2006-04-14T09:01:00.000Z

On the Crucifixion:

"You lived on earth, King of Heaven, to lead me to heaven--I who had been cast out of paradise.
You were born in the flesh of the Virgin to give me birth in the spirit.
You suffered insults to silence the mouths of my enemies who denounced me.
You abased yourself, you who are higher than all honours, in order to honour me, the dishonoured.
You wept to wipe the tears from my eyes.
You sighed, grieved, sorrowed to save me from sighing, grieving, suffering pain through eternity, to give me eternal joy and gladness.
You were sold and betrayed that I might be freed, I who was enslaved.
You were bound that my bonds might be broken.
You were submitted to an unjust trial--you who are Judge of all the earth--that I might be freed from eternal judgment.
You were made naked in order to clothe me in the robes of salvation, in the garments of gladness.
You were crowned with thorns, that I might receive the crown of life.
You were called the king in mockery--you, the King of all!--to open the kingdom of heaven for me.
Your head was lashed with a reed that my name should be written in the book of life.
You suffered outside the city gates in order to lead me, one who had been cast out of paradise, into the eternal Jerusalem.
You were put among evil men--you who are the only just one--that I, the unjust, might be justified.
You were cursed, the One Blessed, that I, the accursed, should be blessed.
You shed your blood that my sins might be cleansed away.
You were given vinegar to drink that I might eat and drink at the feast in your kingdom.
You died, you who are the life of all--in order to revive me, the dead.
You were laid in the tomb that I might rise from the tomb.
You were brought to life again that I might believe in my resurrection."
--St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

I always find it amazing that throughout the New Testament, when the word "crucified" or "slain" is used of Jesus Christ, it almost always in the present perfect tense in the Greek. In other words, "the Lamb who was slain" (Revelation 5:12) is a perpetual descriptive characteristic of the Son of God. Paul could say to the Galatians that "Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified" [present perfect] (3:1). It wasn't just a one-time thing; it is who He is for all of eternity!

When John is taken up to heaven while being shown the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the first representation of Christ that he sees is "a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain [present perfect--indicating a continuous state], standing in the centre of the throne" (5:6). And the praise that is being offered up by the heavenly beings is not because "You have taken dominion over the earth" or "You have judged all the wicked" or even "You have risen and ascended." No, the heavenly accolades centre on one all-important aspect of Christ's work: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation" (Revelation 5:9).

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and power!"

Selective love

2006-03-15T14:59:00.000Z

It seems that every day brings me way too many opportunities to face the fact that I am a selfish person. You would think that after nearly 44 years of living with me, I would not be surprised at myself any more, but I still am. Too often I am nothing but a self-centred pain. I guess this is more evident in the area of "loving others" than in any other area of my life.

I know I'm supposed to love people. That's Christian, right? That's what we're supposed to do. But if I'm honest, I think I love people that it is comfortable for me to love. I love my family. I love people that it's easy to get along with, who have the same interests as me. I love some of my college friends like they were family. But there are a lot of people that I don't really love, not really.

Those words of Jesus, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:46-48), ring in my ears over and over again. I have to ask myself: What am I doing to live the "extraordinary" life that Christ calls me to?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes this life as the perisson, the "extraordinary". He says, "It is 'the more', the 'beyond-all-that'. The natural life is one and the same for heathen and Christian, the distinctive quality of the Christian life begins with the perisson. ... It is the life described in the beatitudes, the life of the followers of Jesus, the light which lights the world, the city set on a hill, the way of self-renunciation, of utter love, of absolute purity, truthfulness, and meekness. It is unreserved love for our enemies, for the unloving and the unloved, love for our religious, political, and personal adversaries. In every case it is the love which was fulfilled in the cross of Christ" (The Cost of Discipleship).

Loving people really is of paramount importance. In his provocative book, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller has this to say: "If a person thinks that you do not like them, that you do not approve of their existence, then your religion and your politics will all seem wrong to them. If they sense that you like them, then they are open to what you have to say. ... When I am talking to somebody there are always two conversations going on. The first is on the surface; it is about politics or music or whatever it is our mouths are saying. The other is beneath the surface, on the level of the heart, and my heart is either communicating that I like the person I am talking to or I don't. God wants both conversations to be true. That is, we are supposed to speak truth in love. If both conversations are not true, God is not involved in the exchange, we are on our own, and on our own, we will lead people astray. The Bible says that if you talk to somebody with your mouth, and your heart does not love them, that you are like a person standing there smashing two cymbals together. You are only annoying everybody around you. I think that is very beautiful and true."

We read this kind of teaching, and we think to ourselves, "Lord increase our faith." I don't see how I can do it! I think it was Oswald Chambers who said that the Sermon on the Mount is not a blueprint for Christian living, rather it is a description of the supernatural life that is utterly impossible without the life of Christ abiding within us. We know that it is the love of God that will touch the heart of man, but when we go to "reflect that love", sometimes it seems to go all wrong. Or many times it just doesn't go at all; we often don't seem to be in a very "reflective" mood.

It comes back to living the "extraordinary". How can I do it? Paul says that "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us" (Romans 5:5). The Holy Spirit of God comes into our lives, and we are enabled to live a life filled with the supernatural love of God. It sounds easy, and quite simple, but it is a life-long pursuit of abiding and learning to trust in the Holy Spirit and his work in us.

I've been reading the biography of Samuel Logan Brengle, the great Salvation Army author, and here is the description of the day when he felt that he had truly experienced the Spirit of God: "I awoke that morning hungering and thirsting just to live this life of fellowship with God. Getting out of bed about six o'clock with that desire, I opened my Bible and while reading some of the words of Jesus, he gave me such a blessing as I never had dreamed a man could have this side of heaven. It was an unutterable revelation. It was a heaven of love that came into my heart. My soul melted like wax before the fire. I sobbed. I walked out over Boston Commons before breakfast, weeping for joy and praising God. Oh, how I loved. In that hour I knew Jesus, and I love him till it seemed my heart would break. I was filled with love for all his creatures. I heard the little sparrows chattering. I loved them. I saw a little worm wriggling across my path; I stepped over it; I didn't want to hurt any living thing. I loved the dogs. I loved the horses. I loved the little urchins on the street. I loved the strangers who hurried past me. I loved the heathen. I loved the whole world!"

The early church fathers used to echo Brengle's words. They said that the presence of the Holy Spirit would bring a baptism of love that would be beyond anything we could naturally create or understand. It is that love which will change the hearts of men and women.

We are called to love. Not just the people that we like or think are worthy of our love, but all people--good or bad, pretty or ugly, nice or nasty. We are to love. It comes only by the Holy Spirit of God. As we seek him, he will enable us to do that which we could never do ourselves. Lord teach me to love.

Our horrible hungry heron

2006-03-11T12:52:00.000Z

Living near the river, as we do, we almost daily see all kinds of wild waterfowl. Geese, swans, ducks, terns, black cormorants can be seen overhead on a regular basis. Each one of them is amazing to watch. I still stop in my tracks when I see a flock of geese passing by. But there is nothing quite like watching a heron in full flight. With its massive wingspan and its graceful flight, it is truly a beauty of creation. However... herons have a down side.

We have a small pond in our back garden, and when we moved into our house a few years ago we were delighted to see that the pond had a nice stock of gold fish, white gold fish, black pond fish, and other lovely species. But two years ago, we experienced the first of our visits by a heron. (Why they can't be satisfied with the fish in the river is beyond me.) One morning I looked out and this creature that is so beautiful when in flight, was looking pretty ugly to me as it was gulping down as many of our pond fish as it could get down its long, slim throat. The pond wasn't emptied of fish, but we suffered some pretty heavy losses.

I went out and bought a few tiny fish and began the process of restocking the pond. Last spring, which seems to be when the heron comes around, we were ready for it. We had the pond covered with wire strands to deter it from landing in our pond, and we tried to keep a vigilant watch for its invasive maneuvers. We made it through the year with no problems.

Then this past Monday morning at 7.20, I got a phone call from a neighbour boy. He said, "Bruce, you've got a heron on your roof. You better watch your fish." I went tearing out of the house and scared the big bird off, but within the hour it was back. Standing nearly 3 feet tall, it is a formidable and beautiful sight. But it was a sight I didn't want in my back garden. We put one of our dogs near the pond, and we tried to keep an eye out for the bird, but we weren't really watching like we should. Also, the wire netting over the pond wasn't in the best shape, because we're in the process of selling our house, so we haven't really been diligent in keeping up with the maintenance of things that we'll soon be taking down anyway.

Tuesday we had to go out for the day, and when we got back three bricks had been knocked from the edge of the pond into the water. But the fish were still there. I didn't really do anything further to deter the ravenous creature, and Wednesday morning I had to chase it away yet again. When I went to have a look at the pond, to my dismay I saw that virtually every fish was no longer with us. The heron had won the day.

This started me thinking about the way we guard the things in our life that really matter. (I have to be honest and admit that while I enjoyed the fish in the pond, I didn't spend most of Wednesday night weeping for their loss. They didn't remember me from one day to the next anyway.) Just like the heron, there are things that are out there always ready to cause us problems and bring loss to our lives. It may have been one or two years since we last encountered them, but they are still always around.

Some of these things are out in the world--sin, lusts, temptations, or as Peter says, the devil acting as a roaring lion looking for somebody to devour. We are to be on our guard, always aware that there is a battle going on, a battle with serious consequences. But other things are in our own hearts. Jesus said the problem with humans is not on the outside, but on the inside. It's the heart that drives these things and creates the problems. I guess that's why Proverbs admonishes us: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (4:23).

I recognise that too often I get comfortable, and I forget that I am to be in a constant state of vigilant watching. It's easy to think that we've defeated a particular weakness in our lives, but the human heart is deceitful, and just when we think we've got the "all clear", look out! Here comes that same dastardly habit or bitterness or weakness again. We've got to be watchful of all things.

I guess it all starts with recognising the condition of our own heart. I remember the story of G.K. Chesterton, the great British writer. One of the London newspapers asked people to write in and say what they thought was wrong with the world at that time. Chesterton wrote to the editor and said, "Dear Sir, what is wrong with the world? I am. Yours sincerely, G.K. Chesterton." Recognising our own heart condition will mean that we also recognise the need for vigilance concerning ourselves. It will also mean that we have a lot less time for criticising and correcting everybody else around us.

We live in a world that is fallen. This isn't our final destination, but for now we live here. It pays to be diligent in keeping up a guard against Satan, the world, and our own heart. For the sake of my God, his church, and my family, I need to keep a watchful eye and an alert spirit, because I don't want those spiritual herons swooping in and robbing us of something that is precious and of eternal value while I'm having a lazy day, or in some cases, a lazy year.

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil,
to take part in wicked deeds
with men who are evildoers;
let me not eat of their delicacies" (Psalm 141:3-4).

And dad's doing backflips!!

2006-02-22T16:21:00.000Z

Once a quarter, our son, Josiah, goes on a two day soccer course. The local boys have two four-hour sessions of working on skills, plus they play several games in various teams. Josiah has been going for the past few years, and he always enjoys it. There is one thing, however, that has been ever elusive. That is the coveted "Goal of the Week." When Josiah was younger, he talked about it, but never expected to win it. More recently he has been getting close--honourable mention a couple of times, once he and one other boy were the best two goals, but the other boy got the trophy. Josiah never said much about it, but I knew he would be pretty pleased to finally win that one.

Well... yesterday it finally happened! My wife Pippa, our daughter Bethany, and I were there for the little awards ceremony that they always do at the end of the two days. And when it came time to announce the winner of "Goal of the Week", the coach said, "It was close again this time, but after some very good goals, the goal of the week goes to Josiah."

Josiah is a pretty low key guy. He just looked down at the ground and smiled. But that smile was speaking volumes to me. And what about me? I wanted to do backflips! I wanted to hug the coach (wholly inappropriate in most reserved British circles)! I wanted to duet with Louis Armstrong in a rousing chorus of "What a Wonderful World"!

I was probably more pleased about the event than Josiah was. I know how often he had gotten close but had not quite won the prize. And I knew that he didn't make a big fuss or complain about not winning, even when it was between him and one other boy. And I knew that this was a pretty special thing for him. Oh yeah, I was very pleased!!

This morning, while out on my morning dog walk, I was reflecting on this whole event and began to think of how often we forget that God is a loving Father who delights in us, and thoroughly enjoys our victories and achievements--those times when we overcome that major temptation, when we hold our tongue and don't give in to some serious anger, when we show kindness to that person that seems to be ignored most of the time like old wallpaper.

The words that were ringing in my ears were: "If you then, though you are evil... how much more will your Father in heaven?" (Luke 11:13). Does God do backflips over us? I wouldn't like to make a categorical statement on that one. Does he delight in us, his children? Absolutely! I think sometimes we get so caught up with "trying to get it right" that we forget that he is our "Abba, Father" and he loves to see us make good. I found that to be a pretty amazing thought!

The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible

2006-02-17T11:56:00.000Z

Anybody who has ever heard me speak about the imbalance of Christian literature in the English speaking world as opposed to the rest of the world will know that I am about the last person who would recommend that Christians in the western world buy yet another Bible. However, this is one that I have to mention.

The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible was recently produced by Richard Foster's ministry, Renovare. The editors include Foster, Thomas C. Oden, Gayle Beebe, Lynda L. Graybeal, Dallas Willard, Walter Brueggemann, and Eugene H. Peterson. Each book of the Bible also has a commentary by an eminent scholar on that book.

But the great thing about the Spiritual Formation Bible is its theme of "The With-God Life". Everything about this Bible is designed to lead the reader into a life of continual union with God, learning to practice the presence of God. It offers numerous helps as to how that can be accomplished, and often breaks into the text of Scripture to challenge the reader to reflect on a particular point and how it relates to "my life". There are a number of essays that show how the Scripture develops this theme of "The With-God Life" from Genesis to Revelation.

The commentaries are not academic babble that will lose the average reader. Instead they are notes that point the reader to recognising the way that each particular text relates to their present situation. The comments are wide-ranging. I've seen quotes from Simon and Garfunkel songs, and I've seen recommendations to buy the book In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers by John Chryssavgis, as a starting point for understanding the spiritual discipline of Solitude. There are also excerpts from spiritual classics by writers such as Thomas a Kempis and Julian of Norwich.

One thing that may surprise readers is that the Inter-testamental books, or Apocrypha, is included. If you, like me, grew up in a conservative protestant home, you may think that the Apocrypha is not to be looked at, much less read. However, there is a great deal of valuable writing from that time, and the Renovare Bible, while not counting them as equal to the Scripture, certainly considers the apocryphal books as worthy of at least one reading. For example, I personally found the Greek rendering of the Book of Esther a great help as an additional text to the book by the same name found in the Old Testament.

All in all, this is a Bible I would highly recommend for any Christian who is serious about being transformed into the likeness of Christ. I think it is one of the greatest tools to be provided in a number of years.

When it all goes wrong

2006-02-09T15:33:00.000Z

A couple of Saturdays ago, I was getting ready to sit down for the afternoon. I had just been to my son Josiah's football (soccer) match, and I was now settling down to prepare myself for the next Sunday morning when I was scheduled to speak at the church that we attend. I was just coming into the house from my office, which is across the back garden, when I noticed what looked like the remains of Josiah's bath water sitting all over the pathway around the down pipe from the upstairs bathroom. Well... we had been experiencing mysterious leaks in various pipes during the past few days, so this confirmed that something was very wrong. I had to acknowledge that we had drain problems. After my father-in-law and I made a couple of futile attempts to clear it, I called a real drain company to come in and fix the problem. The man arrived a couple hours later and quickly set to work on clearing my drains. He began using a very, very long plunging device with great gusto. I could hear all kinds of noise under the ground, and he assured me this was the pipe beginning to clear itself. It looked like he had the problem in hand, so I went inside to fix him a coffee while he was working. To my intense horror, as I walked into the kitchen, I saw that raw sewage was all over the sink area. I opened cupboards and found that the pressure of his plunging had forced this same sewage through every seam in the pipes, and we had the same unpleasant material all over the cupboards under the sink and everywhere in the cupboard where the washing machine sits. I went running out and asked the man if this should be happening. His reply was something along the lines of: "Definitely not. That is 100% wrong. It shouldn't be happening." I was relieved to hear that.

After a quick look over the situation, his conclusion was that something was badly wrong with the way our pipes worked. (I had come to that same conclusion myself.) We began the work of cleaning up the grand mess. He didn't stay as long as I would have liked, and I was left to the task of removing all the sewage from every possible nook and cranny. You see, we are in the process of selling our house, and the idea of people coming to view our house while it smelled like a decaying herd of buffalo didn't seem like a great idea.

The next 48 hours were hugely unpleasant ones for me and my wife, Pippa. We used bleach, pine-scent cleaner, more bleach, dog smell remover, more bleach. You get the idea. Slowly but surely things began to return to normal--apart from the fact that some frying pans were thrown away, since Pippa categorically refused to ever use them again for food that we would consume.

Three days later, the drain company came back and fixed the problem with our kitchen pipes. It needed to be done. We had not been aware of the cause of some minor problems we have had for some time in the kitchen, but when the BIG problem came, it allowed us to find the real problem and FIX it. Now, a couple of weeks later, the smell in the kitchen is pleasant and resembles food cooking rather than animals hibernating. And all the drains in the house, not just the kitchen, are working much better than they were before the catastrophe.

I realise that a few blocked drains is a minor problem in light of world peace or pandemic bird flu. But I can assure that for those 48 hours, we thought it was a pretty big problem. All of us have situations in our lives that sometimes go disastrously wrong--it may be a relationship, our health, a work situation, or any one of a hundred other things. The point is we live in a fallen world, and things often don't work out quite like we plan or hope.

What do we do when it all goes wrong? Sometimes, like in our situation, the big problem is an indication that something needs to be fixed. The little problems were there, but they were small enough that we were able to overlook or ignore them. Many times, maybe most of the time, this is true of the things in our lives. God often allows situations to get to the point where we can't ignore them any longer. Maybe we need to humble ourselves in a way that we haven't before, maybe we need to reconsider our priorities in life, or maybe we need to sit still and listen to God in case he has something that he has been trying to say for some time.

The other side of it is that sometimes there isn't always an easy answer like the "drain man" so quickly gave us. Sometimes we have to say, "I'm not sure, but God is still God." There may not always be a quick and simple answer, but even if mountains are giving way and the earth is shaking, God is still God (Psalm 46). He is faithful all the time.

As our world becomes increasingly unstable, and uncertainty causes a lot of people to live stress-filled lives, it is vital that we keep our minds set on the eternal nature of God and realise that he is indeed working all things to the good. It is entirely possible that things are going to get even more shaky. Those are the times when God is our shelter and rock of safety. He is in the process of conforming us to the likeness of his Son, and whether in good times or bad, his eternal purposes are certain to be fulfilled. That's a comforting thought.

Aslan is no tame lion

2006-01-12T11:03:00.000Z

A few days ago our family went to see "The Chronicles of Narnia" at the cinema. We loved the film, thought the story stayed pretty close to the book, and were amazed by the special effects and cinematography throughout. I must confess I didn't go with overly high expectations regarding how Hollywood would present Aslan, but I was pleasantly surprised as to how they kept all the major items in the story. It was toward the end of the movie that I was caught by something that was said. A couple of days later, I asked my son, Josiah, about it and he immediately took me to page and paragraph in the book. The quote goes something like this:

"One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion."

As I replayed the graphic image of the resurrected Aslan coming up over the mountain peak in the big battle scene, and heard those words--"He's wild, you know"--again in my mind, I wondered if that might be part of the problem with much of Christianity in the western world. We've tried to tame Jesus Christ. Without realising it, we're gradually allowing ourselves to be conformed to the world, and we've lost the "wild" element of life in the Spirit, where "the wind blows wherever it pleases" (John 3:8).

Every government, every societal influence in the western world is trying to create a sterile environment where man is in control of everything and everyone. What we say, what we eat, what we believe is coming under tighter control all the time. This means that we don't care for things that are "not like a tame lion". Unfortunately, many within the Christian world have fallen prey to this antiseptic tendency.

We want people to follow Christ--but only if they feel comfortable with the idea, only if it makes them feel good about themselves, as long as no offence is caused. I can't imagine Jesus today walking into some of the churches and saying, "Take up your cross and follow me ... as long as you're okay with that, or it doesn't cramp your style." The wild Lion who keeps expanding the boundaries and leaping outside of the religious box doesn't fit with our modern world. He doesn't allow us to get comfortable or to establish our own parameters as to how he will work in our lives. No, he doesn't like being tied down.

Many people are leaving traditional Christianity and exploring all kinds of alternative spiritualities and pop religions. I would suggest the biggest reason for this is because we have lost our vision of the "wildness" of Jesus Christ who calls us to new adventures every day. Rather than pursuing an eternal relationship with the living God, we hold on to our human traditions, our religious positions, our flesh-pleasing habits and sins. We give him no opportunity to do his supernatural work of transformation. We end up reducing God to our lowest human common denominator.

If we invite him to take us on his great adventure, we may not be fighting great battle scenes in Narnia every day, but he brings his infinite love, creativity, life, and power into our lives, and transforms us into his image. Give him half a chance, and he will show up when we least expect it, and bring extraordinary things into our ordinary day-to-day lives. If we make a conscious decision to follow the Lion of Judah, and allow him to manifest his "wild" Spirit in our lives, we will find him leading us into an eternity of increasing delight and pleasure in union with our Creator God. This isn't just some Disney fantasy; this is the real thing.

Hilary of Poitiers on The Incarnation of Christ

2006-01-04T10:55:00.000Z

I was prepared to post some thoughts on the new year and what should be our motivation for the days ahead, but yesterday I read these thoughts on the Incarnation by Hilary of Poitiers in his book, On the Trinity. Hilary is another of the early writers who unfortunately are often forgotten these days.

He was born around 300AD and became a bishop in 350. He was embroiled in the Arian controversy, and was exiled from his post because of his orthodox views concerning Jesus Christ. In approximately 360, Hilary wrote his classic work on the Trinity. It is said of Bishop French of Lahore, one of the greatest of modern missionaries, that he always had a copy of On the Trinity in his hands and began a translation into Arabic for the benefit of the Muslims he was ministering to, since it was the best treatment of the Trinity that he had seen.

The following excerpts are regarding the Incarnation and the gratitude we should show to the almighty God who has reached down to man. It is well worth some quiet consideration:

"The Virgin, the birth, the Body, then the Cross, the death, the visit to the lower world: these things are our salvation. For the sake of mankind the Son of God was born of the Virgin and of the Holy Ghost. In this process he ministered to himself; by his own power--the power of God--which overshadowed her, he sowed the beginning of his Body, and entered on the first stage of his life in the flesh. He did it that by his Incarnation he might take to himself from the Virgin the fleshly nature, and that through this commingling there might come into being a hallowed Body of all humanity; that so through that Body which he was pleased to assume all mankind might be hid in him, and he in return, through his unseen existence, be reproduced in all. Thus the invisible Image of God scorned not the shame which marks the beginnings of human life. He passed through every stage: through conception, birth, wailing, cradle, and each successive humiliation.

"What worthy return can we make for so great a condescension? The One only-begotten God, ineffably born of God, entered the Virgin's womb and grew and took the frame of poor humanity. He who upholds the universe, within whom and through whom are all things, was brought forth by common childbirth; he at whose voice archangels and angels tremble, and heaven and earth and all the elements of this world are melted, was heard in childish wailing. The Invisible and Incomprehensible, whom sight and feeling and touch cannot gauge, was wrapped in a cradle. If any man deem all this unworthy of God, the greater must he own his debt for the benefit conferred the less such condescension befits the majesty of God. He by whom man was made had nothing to gain by becoming man; it was our gain that God was incarnate and dwelt among us, making all flesh his home by taking upon him the flesh of One. We were raised because he was lowered; shame to him was glory to us. He, being God, made flesh his residence, and we in return are lifted anew from the flesh to God.

"But lest perchance fastidious minds be exercised by cradle and wailing, birth and conception, we must render to God the glory which each of these contains, that we may approach his self-abasement with souls duly filled with his claim to reign, and not forget his majesty in his condescension. Let us note, therefore, who were attendant on his conception. An angel speaks to Zacharias; fertility is given to the barren; the priest comes forth dumb from the place of incense; John bursts forth into speech while yet confined within his mother's womb; an angel blesses Mary and promises that she, a virgin, shall be the mother of the Son of God. Conscious of her virginity, she is distressed at this hard thing; the angel explains to her the mighty working of God, saying The Holy Ghost shall come from above into you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you (Luke 1:35). The Holy Ghost, descending from above, hallowed the Virgin's womb, and breathing therein (for The Spirit blows where it will--John 3:8), mingled himself with the fleshly nature of man, and annexed by force and might that foreign domain. And, lest through weakness of the human structure failure should ensue, the power of the Most High overshadowed the Virgin, strengthening her feebleness in semblance of a cloud cast round her, that the shadow, which was the might of God, might fortify her bodily frame to receive the procreative power of the Spirit. Such is the glory of the conception.

"And now let us consider the glory which accompanies the birth, the wailing, and the cradle. The angel tells Joseph that the Virgin shall bear a son, and that that son shall be named Emmanuel, that is, God with us. The Spirit foretells it through the prophet, the angel bears witness; he that is born is God with us. The light of a new star shines forth for the Magi; a heavenly sign escorts the Lord of heaven. An angel brings to the shepherds the news that Christ the Lord is born, the Saviour of the world. A multitude of the heavenly host flock together to sing the praise of that childbirth; the rejoicing of the divine company proclaims the fulfilment of the mighty work. Then glory to God in heaven, and peace on earth to men of good will is announced. And now the Magi come and worship him wrapped in swaddling clothes; after a life devoted to mystic rites of vain philosophy they bow the knee before a Babe laid in his cradle. Thus the Magi stoop to reverence the infirmities of Infancy; its cries are saluted by the heavenly joy of angels; the Spirit who inspired the prophet, the heralding angel, the light of the new star, all minister around him. In such wise was it that the Holy Ghost's descent and the overshadowing power of the Most High brought him to his birth. The inward reality is widely different from the outward appearance; the eye sees one thing, the soul another. A virgin bears; her child is of God. An Infant wails; angels are heard in praise. There are coarse swaddling clothes; God is being worshiped. The glory of his majesty is not forfeited when he assumes the lowliness of flesh.

"So was it also during his further life on earth. The whole time which he passed in human form was spent upon the works of God. I have no space for details; it must suffice to say that in all the varied acts of power and healing which he wrought, the fact is conspicuous that he was man by virtue of the flesh he had taken, God by the evidence of the works he did."-- Hilary of Poitiers

Such is the enormous mystery and glory of our Lord's coming to earth. It goes a way beyond "Santa Clause is coming to town." He deserves our deepest gratitude.

Athanasius on the Incarnation (Part 3)

2005-12-29T16:06:00.000Z

Yet more on the incarnation of Christ Jesus:

"He deals with them as a good teacher with his pupils, coming down to their level and using simple means. St. Paul says as much: 'Because in the wisdom of God the world in its wisdom knew not God, God thought fit through the simplicity of the News proclaimed to save those who believe' (1 Corinthians 1:21). Men had turned from the contemplation of God above, and were looking for him in the opposite direction, down among created things and things of sense. The Saviour of us all, the Word of God, in his great love took to himself a body and moved as Man among men, meeting their sense, so to speak, half way. He became himself an object for the senses, so that those who were seeking God in sensible things might apprehend the Father through the works which he, the Word of God, did in the body. Human and human-minded as men were, therefore, to whichever side they looked in the sensible world they found themselves taught the truth. Were they awe-stricken by creation? They beheld it confessing Christ as Lord. Did their minds tend to regard men as Gods? The uniqueness of the Saviour's works marked him, alone of men, as Son of God. Were they drawn to evil spirits? They saw them driven out by the Lord and learned that the Word of God alone was God, and that the evil spirits were not gods at all. Were they inclined to hero-worship and the cult of the dead? Then the fact that the Saviour had risen from the dead showed them how false these other deities were, and that the Word of the Father is the one true Lord, the Lord even of death. For this reason was he both born and manifested as Man, for this he died and rose, in order that, eclipsing by his works all other human deeds, he might recall men from all the paths of error to know the Father. As he says himself, 'I came to seek and to save that which was lost' (Luke 19:10). --Athanasius On the Incarnation

Athanasius on the Incarnation (Part 2)

2005-12-23T16:34:00.000Z

More on the purpose of the incarnation from Athanasius:

"You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel becomes obliterated through external stains. The artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material. Even so it was with the All-holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came and dwelt in our midst, in order that he might renew mankind made after himself, and seek out his lost sheep, even as he says in the Gospel: 'I came to seek and to save that which was lost' (Luke 19:10). This explains his saying to the Jews: 'Except a man be born anew...' (John 3:3). He was not referring to a man's natural birth from his mother, as they thought, but to the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of God.

"Nor was this the only thing which only the Word could do. When the madness of idolatry and irreligion filled the world and the knowledge of God was hidden, whose part was it to teach the world about the Father? Man's, would you say? But men cannot run everywhere over the world, nor would their words carry sufficient weight if they did, nor would they be, unaided, a match for the evil spirits. Moreover, since even the best of men were confused and blinded by evil, how could they convert the souls and minds of others? You cannot put straight in others what is warped in yourself. Perhaps you will say, then, that creation was enough to teach men about the Father. But if that had been so, such great evils would never have occurred. Creation was there all the time, but it did not prevent men from wallowing in error. Once more, then, it was the Word of God, who sees all that is in man and moves all things in creation, who alone could meet the needs of the situation. It was his part and his alone, whose ordering of the universe reveals the Father, to renew the same teaching. But how was he to do it? By the same means as before, perhaps you will say, that is, through the works of creation. But this was proven insufficient. Men had neglected to consider the heavens before, and now they were looking in the opposite direction. Wherefore, in all naturalness and fitness, desiring to do good to men, as man he comes, taking to himself a body like the rest; and through his actions done in that body, as it were on their own level, he teaches those who would not learn by other means to know himself, the Word of God, and through him the Father."-- Athanasius On the Incarnation

Athanasius on the Incarnation (Part 1)

2005-12-22T16:47:00.000Z

As we draw closer to the day that is celebrated as Christmas, the birth of Christ, there is great value in looking at a few excerpts from probably the greatest book ever written on the incarnation of Christ. Athanasius wrote some time around 318, and his thoughts on Christ's coming to earth are still unequalled. May they stir our hearts and minds to consider the real reason of the incarnation, and the glory of the Christ who came.

"For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world. In one sense, indeed, he was not far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without him who, while ever abiding in union with the Father, yet fills all things that are. But now he entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in his love and Self-revealing to us. He saw the reasonable race, the race of men that, like himself, expressed the Father's mind, wasting out of existence, and death reigning over all in corruption. He saw that corruption held us all the closer, because it was the penalty for the Transgression; he saw, too, how unthinkable it would be for the law to be repealed before it was fulfilled. He saw how unseemly it was that the very thing of which he himself was the Artificer should be disappearing. He saw how the surpassing wickedness of man was mounting up against them; he saw also their universal liability to death. All this he saw and, pitying our race, moved with compassion for our limitation, unable to endure that death should have mastery, rather than that his creatures should perish and the work of his Father for us men come to nought, he took to himself a body, a human body even as our own. Nor did he will merely to become embodied or merely to appear; had that been so, he could have revealed his divine majesty in some other and better way. No, he took our body, and not only so, but he took it directly from a spotless, stainless virgin, without the agency of human father--a pure body, untainted by intercourse with man. He, the Mighty One, the Artificer of all, himself prepared this body in the virgin as a temple for himself, and took it for his very own, as the instrument through which he was known and in which he dwelt. Thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies were liable to the corruption of death, He surrendered his body to death in place of all, and offered it to the Father. This he did out of sheer love for us, so that in his death all might die, and the law of death thereby be abolished because when he had fulfilled in his body that for which it was appointed, it was thereafter void of its power for men. This he did that he might turn again to incorruption men who had turned back to corruption, and make themn alive through death by the appropriation of his body and by the grace of his resurrection. Thus he would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire." Athanasius -- On the Incarnation

Keeping a heavenly perspective

2005-12-22T15:49:00.000Z

At the best of times our world and all its pressures, stresses, and conflicts can weigh us down. But it seems that at this time of year, when people are encouraged to attain new levels of self-indulgence all in the name of the baby Jesus, the hustle and bustle of life can become almost overbearing. Everything seems to focus on me, my wants, my pleasures, my satisfaction--in short, making me happy in this present life. Most of us have numerous things to do for work, family, church events, or other things, and if we don't take time to draw aside and focus our thoughts on who we are and what we are called to, we can easily be swept away by the spirit of this age.

I'm not talking only about the holiday season. This possibility is a great temptation at any time of year, but things seem to intensify during this time when the media is bombarding us with how desperately we need numerous items that will never once be used after they gain entrance to our homes. Everything seems to focus on this earthly realm.

The reality is we live in this world. As Jesus so clearly demonstrated to his disciples, we get dirt on our feet. It really can't be avoided; it is the nature of living in a fallen world. But while living in such a world, we are to keep our attention set on our heavenly calling. Lifting our eyes to the heavenly calling that is ours in Christ helps to give us a good heart-cleansing, removing the dust from the feet and keeping us fresh in our vision and eternal purpose.

In The Message, Eugene Peterson renders Colossians 3:1-4 like this: "So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ--that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

"Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life--even though invisible to spectators--is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too--the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ."

I grew up in Indianapolis in the USA, but I've lived in England for 20 years. The accent is still pretty strong, and often people treat me like I just arrived from the USA heartland. Once a lady, who clearly had some definite opinions about the war in Iraq, came up to me and in a rather direct manner asked me what my president was up to. Having not lived in the USA for nearly 19 years at that time, I didn't feel qualified to give an opinion on George Bush's thought process. My inclination was to say to her, "Well, I'm not sure as to whom you are referring, but my present leader is currently seated at the right hand of the Father, and I would be delighted if he would return and establish his kingdom--the sooner, the better."

One thing the church of our time has largely forgotten is that we are called to a higher, glorified life. This realm is not our final destiny; we are only passing through. Instead of trying to fit our Christianity to this realm, we should be setting our thoughts and focus on the higher, heavenly realm. The life we are called to live today should be continuously leading us to that higher spiritual dimension.

"We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting the arrival of the Saviour, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthly bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him" (Philippians 3:20-21).

Being citizens of heaven means we set our thoughts and hopes and desires on that coming kingdom. We live in this world, and we engage this world, but we are called to do so from a heavenly perspective, bringing a heavenly hope to those who are bogged down in the mire of sin and corruption. I believe it was A.W. Tozer who once said, "A person who is stuck down a well isn't looking for somebody to jump down the well and stand at the bottom with them; they are looking for somebody up at the top, who can pull them out."

Living with a heavenly perspective may sometimes mean being isolated; it will mean often being misunderstood, but it will also bring the reality of the heavenly life to those who thus far have seen nothing but the dirt and hopeless grime of this earthly realm. That's the story of the incarnation of Christ. He didn't remain a baby. He has ascended into the heavenlies, and his call to you and me is to live with him in that heavenly dimension, learning what it means to live in union with the Father, bringing the life of the Holy Spirit into every aspect of our existence. It's a tall order, but by cooperating with the triune God, it becomes a true and living possibility!

Keeping an earthly perspective

2005-12-21T20:08:00.000Z

I live in a small village in the British midlands countryside. Each morning I take my two dogs for their walk. If I turn left out of my driveway, I am on a lane that leads out between fields upon fields. As I walk down the lane, I pass several flocks of sheep. The local shepherd's grandson is now getting interested in shepherding and recently bought a small flock of a rare Welsh breed of sheep. They are white all over, except for their heads, which are coal-black. I enjoy seeing them each morning; they are amazing to look at. On any given morning, I will see anywhere from 50-100 rabbits, along with occasional squirrels, foxes, weasels, stoats, pheasants, and a variety of birds that nest in the hedgerows that run along both sides of the lane.

As I pass a couple more fields, I encounter a large chestnut horse and a small Shetland pony of the same colour. A little farther on is a small fishing lake. There are usually at least three or four different varieties of ducks or geese there, or maybe a heron, and sometimes there will be a pair of swans. One of the most amazing sights to see is a pair of swans flying across the sky. During migration season, I will often see entire flocks of geese, in their spectacular "V" formation, flying along the River Trent, which is just a few hundred yards away. This time of year, with the sunrise occurring so late in the morning (around 8.15), I will often have the moon on my left, surrounded by deep blues and purples; and the rising sun on my right, with pinks, yellows, peaches, and red colours that even Monet could never have conceived. Every morning is full of an incredible variety of the beauties of God's creation.

The scene sounds absolutely idyllic, and indeed in many ways it is. I don't let a day go by without thanking God for his wonderful works and for giving me the chance to see it in such an up-close and personal way. There are numerous times when I would prefer to just stay out there for the entire day and kind of forget about everything else.

However, there is another part of this scene that I have neglected to describe. You see, about 400 yards away is a major motorway (4-lane interstate) that runs from London in the south to Edinburgh in the north. And every morning when I'm out in the fields with God and his handiwork, I hear the constant sound of cars and trucks going by. Day by day they bring their pollution, aggression, haste, and noise into that idyllic scene.

In one sense I wish it wasn't there; quiet tranquility would just about complete the ideal setting for my morning walks. But at the same time, I realise that the constant drone of the passing cars serves as a constant reminder that there is a world going by out there, and that I am to engage that world by the grace of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit, and try to bring a little redemption in some small way. The quiet moments with God in his beautiful countryside mean very little if I am unable to bring something of eternal value to the world that is passing me by day after day after day.

I am reminded of the three disciples who were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. I can relate to Peter's desire to just stay there, build a few tents, and enjoy the revelation of the glory of Christ. But staying there was not God's plan for them. In fact, the moment they came down from the Mount, they encountered a demon-possessed man. The spiritual revelations and glorious experiences of God's presence don't last forever. They often are sent to prepare us for the face-to-face encounters with this fallen, spiritually corrupt world.

I believe that the incarnation of Jesus himself is the best example of this. If anybody was in a place of total satisfaction and glory, it was Christ. Yet, he willingly entered our fallen, polluted, corrupt world to bring redemption and all that it includes. Paul says it like this:

"Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion" (Philippians 2:5-8, The Message).

Keeping an earthly perspective means that we don't seek the glory of God simply for what we can get out it, and out of him; rather we seek to bring his glory into the dark corners of our world, into the broken lives and wounded hearts that we encounter in normal, daily lives. I agree: it's easier to go for the idyllic country walk (I would actually prefer a beachside home on the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa). But the nature of the redemptive gospel means that we are here to engage our fallen, hurting world. That probably won't mean great and dramatic scenes for most of us. It will probably occur in the quiet, often mundane realities of life.

Francis of Assisi said of himself, "When I was living in sin, I could scarcely bear even to look at lepers; but the Lord led me among them, and I took pity on them." Francis' first biographer, Thomas of Celano, tells us that Francis admitted that the mere sight of lepers had at one time been so disgusting to him that before he was converted if he saw one of their houses even a couple of miles away, he had to pinch his nostrils. Then one day by the grace and power of the Most High, Francis of Assisi one day encountered a leper and, possessed of a strength greater than his own, he went up to him and kissed him. This event caused Francis to learn humility and to centre his heart on heavenly things.

As we approach another Christmas, chances are that the world out there will not be dramatically changed by looking at another nativity scene or two. However, if we can keep an earthly perspective and bring the effects of our heavenly moments into this fallen world, by the grace of God people may see something of his redemptive love. And the power of the glorified Christ who was willing to become a slave for the redemption of mankind will reach out and touch another life.

How shall we find time to pray?

2005-12-14T10:23:00.000Z

While reading Richard Foster's superb book, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, I came across the name George Buttrick and his own book entitled simply, Prayer. I began to look for this book, and it took quite a while, but I finally found an old paperback edition. This morning I was reading it, and Buttrick had this to say about our time and our prayer life. It is the kind of thing we need to be reminded of about once a week.

"How shall we find time to pray? The very question shows the disproportion of our life. 'First things' are not 'first.' Three hundredth things, the make of an automobile, the fashion of a coiffure, are now first; and 'first things' have dropped out of sight.

"St. Ignatius required of initiates in his order an initial thirty days of silence. Luther habitually prayed for three hours each day. Jesus often prayed all night, and said that 'men ought always to pray, and not to grow weary in praying'(Luke 18:1).

"If prayer is friendship with God, that friendship should rule all our time. Work or play should wait on prayer, not prayer on work or play. But since our age is frenzied, since with all the time gained from time-saving devices we have ever less time to live, this fact is worth stress: prayer saves time, and the saving is genuine.

"When a man prays, his thought is proportioned and clear: evil memories are purged to save him from distraction, and he can meet responsibility with confidence. Another man may lack concentration, fill time with lost motion, and delay or blunder in decisions; but the praying man is in tune with life.

"It is no accident that Paul could be prodigious and versatile in labour, as tent-maker, friend, traveler, administrator, preacher, writer, theologian: he was much in prayer. His nature was like a cathedral: many an arch and aisle, many a carving and picture, many a chapel, many a peal of bells, but all brought to focus and purpose in an altar.

"Prayer saves time. We should not offer God the shreds and tatters of our day. But, if events crowd and responsibilities summon, prayer's brevity can be atoned in prayer's sincerity. Five minutes in the morning, arrow flights of prayer during the day, and fifteen minutes at night do not seem too large a demand for life's highest Friendship. That time spent in prayer can conquer time." -- George Buttrick (1942)

In our high-stressed, fast-paced world, there is a gentle continual reminder to make time for the Eternal, to allow Him to invade this space-time realm, and to enter and transform our hearts.

My people will fax your people?

2005-11-13T21:48:00.000Z

Synergy--What is it? Today it has become a common business buzz word. "Let's get our companies together and create some synergy. My people will fax your people. We'll do lunch." The word has come to represent the cooperation necessary to create bigger and better business and profits. The truth is, however, that synergy is not a product of multinational capitalism. The idea has been around for centuries, and synergy was originally used by some of the ancient Christian writers to describe the cooperation that must go on between a person and almighty God if that person is ever to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

The amazing message of the Christian gospel continues to be that all people are called to perfect union with God which is accomplished in synergy, the cooperation of our created will with the perfect will of God. It seems rather simple: the more we learn to cooperate with God, the closer we get to him. We actually are able to come into union with the triune creator of the universe.

Undoubtedly, it is the grace of God that sends his Spirit and begins to stir our hearts toward belief, or repentance, or newness of thought and attitude, but we must be willing to walk in the Spirit, to cooperate with--and not insult--the Spirit of Grace. That synergy begins to manifest a greater sense of the presence and power of God in our lives.

Jesus said it like this: "On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. ... If anybody love me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:20-23). Cooperation leads to obedience, and obedience leads to union -- "I am in my Father, you are in me, I am in you." Awesome! As we learn to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, we are actually called to participate in a life with the trinity. That's much bigger than just "getting saved to avoid eternal damnation."

Paul writes to the Philippians and says it this way: "...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." That's synergy: work out ... because God is working in. Learn to cooperate with him and watch him do marvelous things in and through you.

Much of the teaching in modern Christianity is very individualistic. We set out what we want to do, then ask God to bless it, or try to walk in his favour, so that things always turn out well for us. Jesus' example seems to be much more dependent on learning to move as the Father moved: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does also" (John 5:19).

This sounds a lot like the way that God led the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness. "On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord's command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. At the Lord's command they encamped, and at the Lord's command they set out. They obeyed the Lord's order, in accordance with his command through Moses" (Numbers 9:15-23).

Sometimes a day, sometimes a month -- the secret was staying in step with what God was doing. Not always the same way twice, not a sense of "this is the way we've always done it here". Learning that lesson doesn't happen in a few days, or through "seven easy steps". The life of spiritual synergy is the pursuit of a lifetime. It's an ever-deepening hunger for union with God and transformation into the image of Christ. I'm only just beginning to understand what it really means to cooperate with God in every aspect of life. But, like the apostle Paul, I am "forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead" (Philippians 3:13). Such a life surely must be worth the strain!