Menu Close

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

Category: Faith Challenges

Envy

George 0 Comments

I am regularly encouraged and enlightened by the writings of Fr Stephen Freeman on his blog “Glory to God for all Things”. Writing from an Orthodox tradition, he provides some challenging insights and perspectives. The following excerpt from today’s post is no exception. He deepen my understanding of envy, creating dissonance in my soul. Perhaps you will find it worthwhile also.

The Scriptures describe covetousness as “idolatry” (Col. 3:5). As such, covetousness is little more than desire turned in the wrong direction. Envy is much darker. Envy is the pleasure we take in the calamity that others suffer. It is the heart that says, “He got what was coming to him,” or that longs to see terrible consequences come to pass. Of all the passions, it is the darkest. It is able to look at suffering and smile. It was envy that crucified Christ (Matt. 27:18).

Because envy is a passion, it does not have a natural end. It cannot be brought to a completion or satisfied – for it is insatiable. Our natural desires, such as hunger, sex, thirst, etc., can all be satisfied because they have a proper end. It is the passions, not desires, that wreak havoc on the world.

There is …a very dangerous iconoclasm that resides within us all in the envy that infects our hearts. When Christ taught the love of enemy and to forgive those who hate us, He invites us to abandon the envy sown by the evil one. There is a deep fear by many, whenever His teachings in this matter are brought to a specific case. We fear that if our enemies are not resisted in every possible way, they will win. I once heard it said that to be a pacifist does not mean the end of violence, but that you will end up on a cross. That is, in fact, the case. Christ’s death on the Cross does not take place in order to destroy crosses. His Cross destroys death and does so by being a Cross, voluntarily taken up out of love.

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2020/07/31/hagia-sophia-and-the-evil-eye/

Why Am I Doing This?

George 0 Comments

I believe it is possible that, our understanding of sanctification comes mostly from “ a shamed-based worldview in which earning and insisting upon respect from others is paramount.” As such, we view sanctification as a means and method to earn respect and bring honor to ourselves and, coincidentally, to God. Ultimately living a “sanctified life” is more about me than God.

In contrast, the kingdom life is lived with a set of values based on charity, wanting the best for others.

This can be illustrated by the following excerpt from Keller:

Imagine seeing a little old lady coming down the street at night carrying a big purse. Why not just knock her over and take the pure and its money? The answer of the honor-shame culture is that you do not take her purse, because if you pick on the weak you would be a despicable person. No one would respect you and you would not respect yourself. That ethic, of course, is self-regarding. You are focused on how the action will affect your honor and reputation. There is, however, another train of thought to take. You may imagine how much it would hurt to be mugged, and how the loss of money might harm people who depend on her. So you don’t take the money because you want the best for her and her dependents. This is an other-regarding ethic; you are thinking completely about her.

Who am I?

George 2 Comments

Listening to a podcast this morning, the conversation turned to the subject of personal identity, essentially, who are you are? A life long task for me has been the pursuit of understanding who I am. For some, especially, my Christian brother and sisters, that may be a silly question for a Christian, to ask. Christians should have a ready answer, “I am… a Christian…Christ follower…believer…child of God… for starters. That answer may come out in the conversation but it is probably not my first response when I engage people who don’t know me.

More often I’m asked “what do you do?” rather than “who are you?”. In our society, you are what you do. Status, value and worth is all tied up in what we do. The competition for status is fierce. There is an industry devoted enhancing job descriptions on resumes. Stories of inflated resumes abound in the media, often with dire consequences.

It is my suspicion that people who ask “what do you do?” of new acquaintances, have an answer prepared when the question returns. Many people may not have an answer that can compete but if they do, the conversation may very well take another direction.

As I thought more, it occurred o me asking “what do you do?” is a handy and effective way to establish superiority and diminish or shame the other. Whether or not that is our intention, the result is the same. I remember my father-in-law always introduced me as a manager at Ford Motor Company. I’m sure he had no idea of the baggage that came with that if anyone knew much about Ford production managers. Thankfully, the spotlight dimmed when he introduced my PHD brother-in-law.

During the afore mentioned podcast, it was suggested, whenever people ask “what do you do”, resist answering and, if you do, be as vague as possible and redirect the conversation in a way that will engage them and find opportunity to know them and vise versa. What they do is not who they are.
I particularly encourage Christians to consider the mine field created when asking”what do you do?”, our goal is to engage and love others. Also, it might be helpful to rethink canned responses of “I’m a …Christian…Christ follower…believer…child of God… et al” and please don’t say I am a member of _______ church. Those descriptions may have entirely different meanings for unbelievers. Whatever we are are, they will find out soon enough when they get to know us. Besides, it could help to avoid embarrassing Jesus and his followers.

Here are a few things I’m pondering.
How to answer “What do you do?”?
What should I answer if asked “Who are you?”?
If I shouldn’t ask, “What do you do?”, what should I ask?

So much to think about.

Suddenly the Judge Shall Come

George 1 Comment

“Suddenly the Judge shall come and the deeds of each shall be revealed.” 

Eastern Orthodox morning prayer

The following is a post by Jason Zharaiades. I was struck by his subject on a couple of levels. My intuitive response to the title was, here’s another guy ranting about the Coronavirus being God’s judgement on this evil world. That response in itself gives me pause to assess my thinking on God’s judgement. Secondly, he opened a completely different insight into the Eastern Orthodox morning prayer “Suddenly the Judge shall come and the deeds of each shall be revealed.”
In deed, Coronavirus is a judge and, as Jason tells us, it’s revealing truth that we would otherwise conceal.
For me, despite my honest assertion of peace in the midst of this crisis, the judge has revealed my flawed and disingenuous heart. (Ann is my witness, and my victim) I suspect gleeful scenes on facebook are not quite the family realities some want to portray.
I am coming to realize the the deep spiritual challenge these days present. There has been much said about great spiritual opportunities, i.e. family interactions, virtual connections, teaching and discipling., on-line worship, to name a few. But I’m thinking our coronavirus experience, ironically, may prove to be more Lenten than Easter.

“Suddenly the Judge shall come and the deeds of each shall be revealed.” 

This is a line from the morning prayers I say. When I first became an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I used to emotionally cringe at this line. It played into my old juridical perspective of God, depicting God as pounding his gavel and declaring me guilty. Or worse, it played on some of my deeper distortions of God as a deity hiding around the corner, waiting for me to do something bad so he could jump out and catch me red-handed. 

But that isn’t the God revealed in Jesus. He’s a good, loving, generous Father who desires us to enter the true human life and vocation as his image-bearers, ambassadors, and priests.

So now, I see this line more therapeutically. A judge determines what is real and true. Like a doctor touching an area on our body in order to diagnose, the pain that we experience reveals disease or disorder that needs to be addressed and healed.

So it’s for our goodness and health that the Judge comes and reveals our deeds. It reveals what is real. And that honest revelation is always a gift, and never a curse.

But how does the Judge come and reveal? I find in my life it’s through pressure and suffering. When circumstances become stressful, that’s when the Judge reveals, when the Doctor diagnoses. As part of the process, the crap that I’m fairly good at burying during normal times is exposed. Anger, anxiety, fear, impatience, gossip, pride, self-centeredness, control, self-preservation, and so much more are flushed into the open.

And that’s when I’m reminded and invited again to trust in and follow my Shepherd. In him I lack nothing. In him I am safe. In him I am sustained. In him the fractured and frenzied pieces of my life are being reintegrated and restored.

I write this because yesterday morning as I prayed that line, I choked when I realized how the past couple of weeks have brought the Judge so powerfully. I can’t remember a time when I’ve felt so overwhelmed, to the point I feel physically ill and emotionally strung out. And what’s being exposed isn’t good. It feels like all the spiritual formation over the past several years has evaporated.

I’m not writing this to invoke pity. Rather, it’s a reminder that true and genuine honesty is a gift, not a curse. If I let God do his work, then what I’m experiencing is ultimately for my good. Suddenly the Judge comes and it is a good thing, even though it hurts so much.

https://jasonzahariades.com/2020/03/25/suddenly-the-judge-shall-come/

A Glimpse in the Mirror

George 1 Comment

The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded me opportunity to peruse old files. I came across a letter I wrote to our Bible Study group in Louisville before we moved to Wilmore. Its message is a timely reminder.

As you probably know, I listen to a lot of sermons and lectures. I’m concerned that I may be a “cognitive behaviorist”. I ran across that term in a book that I just finished. I posted a comment on my blog about it. Here is what I posted:

Occasionally, I look at the mirror and get a glimpse of what I really look like and it isn’t always a pleasant experience. I would prefer to see myself in my mind’s eye. This morning as I was reading Scot McKnight’s “A Community Called Atonement”. As he addressed impediments to the atoning role scripture plays in the life of the church, I had a “glimpse in the mirror” experience. The subject was “cognitive behaviorist”.

“… cognitive behaviorists teach that if we get things right in our mind we will behave accordingly. With respect to spiritual formation … the theory goes like this: the more Bible we learn, the better Christian we should be; the more theology we grasp, the better we will live. … But we need to make this clear: knowing more Bible doesn’t necessarily make me a better Christian. I have hung around enough nasty Bible scholars and enough mean-spirited pastors to know that knowing the Bible does not inevitably create a better Christian. And I’ve known plenty of loving Christians who don’t know the difference Matthew and John, let alone the differences between Kings and Chronicles”

The cognitive behaviorist approach denies a biblical theory of the Eikon [that humans are created in the image of God]  We are made as Eikons, we cracked the Eikon (through our will), and the resolution of the problem of cracked Eikons is not simply through the mind. It is through the will, the heart, the mind and the soul – and the body, too. No matter how much Bible we know, we will not be changed until we give ourselves over to what Augustine called “faith seeking understanding”. The way of Jesus is personal, and it is relational, and it is through the door of loving God and loving others. The mind is a dimension of our love of God (heart, soul, mind, and strength), but it is not the only or even the first door to open.

I share that with you because I may have communicated in some way that knowing the Bible is all we need to be Christ followers. Knowing the Bible is important, but as stated above, it is not he only thing. Personally, I am trying to develop other dimensions of my relationship with Christ, my will, heart, soul, and body. Spiritual formation is not just about knowing the Bible. I would like to discuss this further when we get together.