A Soft Place to Land

Tue, 04 May 2004 13:20:51 GMT

The other day our little group was having a discussion and in the midst of the discussion the question came up, "what is faith and how does it work?". This reminded me of the little story I heard years ago, you probably heard it too.

The Sunday School teacher asked the class what "faith" was. All the children looked around and finally little Johnny raised his hand and said, "faith was believing something you knew wasn't true". Which brings me to the point of this post. How honest are we about what we believe?

There are things that we feel we must agree to in order to be a Christian or to be accepted within the circle that we move in. The list is endless......salvation, hell, the Trinity, what is and isn't sin, what about people who never hear about Jesus, the Bible, etc.......

It is proported that to adhere to the standard position regarding any of the above mentioned subjects is an act of faith. But I wonder if it might not be closer to little Johnny's definiton than we think? What would happen if we really didn't know the answer about hell or salvaton or faith or sin or whatever and we said, "I don't know, but this is what I'm thinking at the moment." What if we were able to be honest about our faith and our doubts and take our time to experience and figure it out?
What would that look like?

Well, in our discusson Sunday the comment was made that it looks like life! It takes an incredible amount of faith to get up out of bed and leave the house in the morning in light of the dangers all around us in the world we live in. It takes a huge step of faith to put our kids on the school bus in the morning with any degree of confidence. It also takes alot of faith to express ourselves in a group of people who could belittle us and undermine our self-esteem. And although these "acts of faith" don't seem very spiritual they say alot about our view of God and His care for us and if we will ultimately be o.k. no matter what happens.

It is my hunch that honest doubt is worth it's weight in gold for from it springs true faith that inhabits the soul. It is also my hunch that dishonest faith; the kind that goes against all that our soul says is true; is just that...dishonest and leads us away from God and the truth.

Honest doubt says, "I don't know" when we don't know and asks for light in order to see. Dishonest faith says "I know" when it doesn't and therefore rejects the light when it enters the room. Jesus said in John 5:39-40, "You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, for they testify of me. Yet you refuse to come to me that I might give you life."

It is hard to face our honest doubts for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is rejection from friends. Yet if we admit to our blindness, we are able to receive the light the Christ brings. And Lord knows we need it.

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 11:01:55 GMT

On another blog I commented on the subject of Reconciliation. I thought I would open up the idea on ASPTL.

In the letter to the Colossians the writer makes the statement that Christ has reconciled all things, things in heaven and things on earth. Which makes me wonder about that.

In the book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" the author explores this idea without mentioning it by name. In the book the main character, Eddie, dies in his 80's and important moments of his life are replayed through the story while he is meeting each of his five people. During each of these individual meetings, Eddie relives many painful moments then learns the significance of each which brings personal healing to him.

Keeping this thought in the back of your head, think about how you reconcile your check book each month (if you happen to do so). You receive all the information the bank has about your account and you match it up with all the information you have about your account and you reconcile it or balance it. You are able to make sense out of it; you know where you stand.

I wonder if true reconciliation is not something like this, yet more personal and relational. So often when we are hurt we are unable to see everything about the event and what caused it. We often allow the event to communicate something negative and hurtful to us about ourselves which is not true, but makes "sense" to us at the time due to our lack of sight.

What if true reconciliation; between us and God as well as between us and others; was that we were given the sight to see who we really are; beloved and desired by the Father; and the sight to see what has caused the things that have hurt us, and our hurting others and we were able to "judge" between the true/real and that which if false/not real.

What if this is what reconciliation and justification spoken of in Bible were all about. Not some legal issue of satisfying a outside standard of righteousness. But coming to see, in Christ, what is real, who we are and who God is and we are able to make sense and live in the truth with eyes wide open. Then we could see all others the way they really are; beloved and desired by the Father; and the things they have done which have hurt us came not out of their being but out of their lack of sight and pain.

What if we began to see folks that way now? As I'm sure in some measure we do. What if we could make central to our being that we are desired and beloved of our Father and what if we could see that in the face of Jesus? The reconciliaton would truly be real.

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 11:35:56 GMT

This morning's lectionary discussion......

Read Psalm 30

It is interesting in the parallelism in Ps. 30:5 that the “weeping” that endures for the night is associated with God’s anger….i.e. “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life....weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning”.

Q1. Why do you think that is? Or, what do think the psalmist is trying to communicate by putting these two parallel statements together?

It is interesting that the word translated “anger” (Pa ‘aph af ) is the same word used to translate “face” (22 x’s) and “nose or nostrils” (25 x’s)

Q2. Do we ever associate our dark nights with God’s anger or displeasure? Why?

Read Jn. 21:1-19 & Acts 9:1-20 & Rev. 5:11-14

In each of the lectionary passages we see a reference to a “night” of sorrow (weeping but no answers) and/or seemingly fruitless labor or activity. Sorrow/weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning, Saul’s night of blindness, Peter and others night of fruitless fishing, etc.

To St. John of the Cross, (mid late 16^th century) the “dark night of the soul” was part of God’s bringing us to where we are ready for Him…..

“INTO this dark night souls begin to enter when God draws them forth….. in order that, realizing the weakness of the state wherein they are…[and] the soul is strengthened and confirmed in the virtues, and made ready for the inestimable delights of the love of God.”

Q3. What are some ways you have entered into a “dark night” or a period of seemingly “fruitless labor”?

Q4. However while we are in them, dark nights are often distinguished by:

pain without evident reason,
situations where we have no solutions,
situations where we are made to face serious fears that we have harbored,

Q5. When we are in a period of darkness we often assume that it was our sin, mistakes, wrong decisions, that brought us there. IOW’s that it is our fault we are here. Do you think that it is right/healthy to assume this? Why?

Q6. What are some other “unhealthy” assumptions we can make about ourselves when we are in a dark time?

a.       No one else understands

b.      I’m the only one

c.       I’m flawed

d.      It’s somebody else’s fault

Q6. What if our “dark nights” are part of the process that we “must” go through? And, that we are no more to blame for being there than a child is for being at school?

Q7. What if God is the one who leads us into dark nights so that we might be made to see more clearly the truth of who He is and who we are in Him? That, “realizing the weakness of the state wherein we are... and we are made ready for the inestimable delights of the love of God.”?

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 19:37:07 GMT

Mac writes.......

she saw him standing there on the corner

like many she had seen before

the beggars and con men

with their cardboard signs that say

"will work for food"

punctuated with a verse of guilt inducing scripture

her fingers felt instinctively for the power-lock on the car door

as she whispered a prayer for the light to stay yellow

but the car ahead slowed to stop

damn! she thought

so much for that prayer

she looked straight ahead

silently willing the light to turn green

he shifted his stance and

the sunlight glinted on something gold

she turned in his direction

then she noticed

there was something different about this one

for one thing, he was dressed to the nines in a three piece suit

the something gold was a rolex watch

his well manicured hands held

not cardboard, but a laminated placard, neatly lettered

"will work for god"

was all it said

no bible verses were written on his sign

none needed she supposed

he wasn't going for spare change

he wanted it all

for a split second their eyes met

and she knew

his searching gaze

was looking for her weakness

for the way in

on another day

she might have lowered her eyes in surrender

but not today

she met him stare for stare

and then she knew

he had seen her sign, too

the one not made with hands

"no vacancy"

it said

he turned away

he, too, was eager now for the light to turn green

it was then the dark cloud appeared

and the rain began to fall

he hadn't planned for rain

the drops came hard and fast

speckling his light grey suit

with spots the color of charcoal

his placard now covered his head

instead of his heart

as he ran for better cover

she looked in her rear view mirror

long enough to watch him jump

into his getaway car

as the horn from the car behind her sounded

signaling the light had changed

as quickly as the rain had come

it stopped

the sun was shining once again

as she made the turn for home

Sun, 18 Apr 2004 20:07:56 GMT

This morning our little group discussed the verses from the lectionary that you see below. After the readings we asked ourselves and discussed these questions:

Psalm 118:14-29, John 20:19-31, Acts 5:12a, 17-22, 25-29, Rev. 1:4-8

Q1. Do you see any “common threads” throughout the lectionary readings this morning?

Doors & Gates…….Opening the gates of righteousness (Ps.118:19) Opening of the tomb in the resurrection, Jesus entering through the shut door to His disciples, (Jn 20) Opening of the gates of the prison holding Peter & John.(Acts 5:19)

At the beginning of our gospel reading we are told that the disciples were in hiding with the “doors shut for fear of the Jews”. We can understand that since Jesus their leader, the Messiah, the one who their hope had been placed, was just executed at the urging of the Jewish leaders, they now feared for their own lives as they wondered what would be the next step for them.

Q2. Other than fearing for their lives, what else might have caused them to be afraid? (embarrassment for following someone who was not who he claimed to be, fearing for what would happen tomorrow, maybe they had been wrong about Jesus, etc.)

Q3. What are some of the “fears” that we face that may cause us to hide behind doors of our own making? (afraid of being rejection, afraid of being hurt, afraid of being revealed as insignificant or worse, “damaged/tainted”, etc.)

Q4. How do we hide? (we don’t speak our mind, we aren’t honest about how we feel, we bury ourselves in “emotion numbing” activities rather than face our fears, we shun connection with others and relationships, etc.)

Q5. In v. 19 of John 20 how does Jesus enter through the door to speak to His disciples? Do the disciples open the door? Do you think that is significant? Why? Why do you think Jesus didn’t knock on the door and ask them to let Him in?

Q6. How do you think that speaks to Jesus’ presence and work in our lives? Does He always wait for us to open the door? Does He always just walk through the door in spite of the fact we have locked it from the inside? Is He ever absent from us? Is He tasting of the same “fear” or “issues” that I am experiencing or hiding from?

Q7. Is there anything that we can really hide from? Is there issue or fear that will just be “zapped” and taken care of without us having to work through it? IOW’s is there anything that we will be able to hide from?

Q8. Will He let us hide indefinitely? Is that good news? What does it mean that Jesus is the door (Jn 10:7)

Is it possible that any door that we hide behind is actually Jesus, and that once we realize it we see that we need not hide? Any fear or issue are issues He has already dealt with in our place and is ready to walk us through it

Rev. 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

Dan

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 00:54:28 GMT

He asked, "So, where are you and you're family going now"? (As in where are you going to church?)

I don't know why that one still gets me. I mean, my wife and I are more honest now about who we are and our relationship to God. We tell our children about Jesus and try to live in honest faith (and doubt) in front of them. We pray and read our Bibles. O.K., many may still feel I'm sorta "heriticish" since I believe God really does love everyone and will never stop, and I'm not quite sure about hell, even though I have some ideas. We have some dear friends that we meet with regularly; we sing, pray, learn from one another: o.k. it's in a pizza parlor.... Does that count for church????

After several years of believing that God truly has reconciled the entire world to Himself in His Son; not counting men's sins against them. And that it really did please the Father to reconcile all things to Himself in His Son; things whether in heaven or in earth ; I mean that ought to cover everything and everyone. And that my performance, whether it is faith, repentance or obedience, is not a condition of His acceptance of me. So, why is it that when someone asks me where I'm going to church, it gets under my skin as if I'm being measured up?

Well, possibly it is because I'm being measured up. We often compare ourselves with one another to see how we stack up against the crowd. Another reason is because I love to be liked and accepted. Maybe that's not your stuff, but it is mine and most of the time I don't kinow what to do with it. For some reason I let other folks opinions tie me in knots. Actually I feel ashamed as if I should have a good answer for the question, but since I don't or at least feel like I don't I get tied up in knots and try to act like it's no big deal. And I hate feeling that way. It's kinda like being between two worlds, the one being the world of the truth where you are desperately trying to get the truth of God's love into your soul and be set free and the other being the world of Western Christianity where performance and appearances are everything.

I told him that we and some of our friends met weekly in a pizza parlour. I don't think he said anything, just sorta nodded his head as if trying to decided if that counted. As I said above, that kinda stuff shouldn't mess with us, but unfortunately it does.

In the book of Romans it says, "that all creation is groaning and travailing in pain (as in childbirth) waiting for the manifestation of children (sons and daughters) of God..." I used to think that it was just talking about creation, as in nature and animals and things. But, I'm pretty sure I'm groaning and travailing too. You see there is stuff inside of us that is really glorious. I'm not just blowing smoke, I mean we have divine life in us and we have been made daughters and sons of God. And that reality is encouraging us and causing us pain. Encouraging us because we have hope that we will be so much more than we see right now; causing us pain because damn it, we know we are more than we are experiencing and it hurts like hell.

There is one verse in Hebrews that I haven't been able to get out of my head for the past couple of months and that is, "although He was a son yet He learned obedience through that which He suffered." Pain or getting tied up in knots is not always a bad thing because it points to the truth; we have been desired, loved, accepted and embraced by our Father. And the incongruence of our lives to this truth hurts, in order to pull us aways from the BS and remind us of who we really are and that we have a home.

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 11:28:52 GMT

Have you ever heard Christians speaking about God in ways that made it appear that we were better parents than God is? I mean after all, which parent would at some point finally give up on a child and punish/torture them eternally with no hope of restoration? Sounds strange. It is not possible that we would be capable of a more enduring love and a deeper reaching forgiveness than God. So what is it that causes so many, maybe ourselves to think this way? If it can't be true, why do we act like it's true?

Closer to home, do you ever feel like you're working harder at a relationship with God than He is? Who does all the talking? How can you tell if He's listening? Does He ever wake up earlier in the morning to talk with you?

I realize that these questions sound absurd, but for many of us the rationale of these questions are lurking inside our soul. Why is that so? And why do these questions and those like them touch us so personally?

One reason I think is because deep down we know that God must be better than we can imagine Him. And we are unwilling to let go of that hope. That is a very good thing. If we are able to reconcile ourselves to a God who is less of a parent than ourselves or a God who is relationally indifferent to us then it means that our souls have shut down to the truth and glory about life and about God. The wonderful truth of God is supposed to create some painful questions if we are willing to accept that we may have inherited or developed a paradigm that is not congruent with who He really is.

For example the perception that God created us to "do" something for Him. As if He coundn't do anything He wanted a million times better than we could. This kind of thinking leaves us feeling utilitarian and relationally insignificant to God; no matter how much we use the word relationship in our speech.

Another example is that God sent Jesus to die, suffering the punishment He imposed, for our sins before He (God) was willing to be gracious to us. In other words in is proposed that there is a legal requirement that must be satisfied before God is willing to forgive us and accept us.

Whether or not we dwell or even think about these kinds of things it is a given that our (western) culture is strongly influenced by that line of thinking.

What if all these paradims are just dead wrong? And what if they are part of the foundation that our notions of God, life and ourselves are resting on? How might that influence the way we relate to God? How might that influence the way we think about ourselves? How might that affect things like our desire to pray or share our insights about God with others? Do we really want to pray to someone who says they are interested in us but views us as a functional object rather than a real person? Do we want to introduce our friends to someone like that?