Introspection: This Winding Path (2019)

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This Winding Path (2019)

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3:13 (NRSV)

But where will you go

With no one left to save you from yourself?

You can't escape

The truth

I realize you're afraid

But you can't abandon everyone

You can't escape

You don't want to escape

From "Where Will You Go?" by Evanescence

I was first introduced to a prayer labyrinth during my junior year of college, while I was on a retreat at Lake Junaluska with the Wesley Fellowship.  I think that, when I first heard about a prayer labyrinth, I expected some kind of hedge maze, but, when I actually saw one, I learned that it consisted of a single winding path that leads to a center area.  Walking a labyrinth is a form of contemplative prayer.  The journey to the center is a time of letting go of things and turning them over to God.  Time spent in the center is time spent in the presence of God.  The journey from the center outward is a time of being open to God and receiving what God offers.

One labyrinth I've visited several times in the past is behind the chapel at Furman University, my Alma Mater.

To be honest, I've never really gotten much out of walking a prayer labyrinth.  A lesson I've gleaned in the past is that, in the same way I don't really know what I'm doing in a prayer labyrinth, I don't really know what I'm doing in life in general and that, despite my lack of understanding, I have to trust that God is somehow at work in it all.  Truth be told, I struggle with contemplative prayer practices in general because I have trouble quieting my mind.  I'd rather take a long reflective walk, on which I am not trying to quiet my mind and listen but rather trying to sort through my thoughts.

Earlier this month, the women's group at my church hosted a prayer drop-in and invited the whole congregation to join them.  A portable prayer labyrinth had been set up in the gym, and, when I dropped by that Saturday morning, I decided to give it a try again.  Once, when I walked the labyrinth at my college, I chose to remove my shoes out of reverence, but, because the labyrinth in the gym was made of fabric, I had to remove them.  New socks were available for people who were not wearing any, and I availed myself of a pair since mine were a bit holey.

Since I've never really gotten the hang of walking a prayer labyrinth, I ended up focusing less on what was going on within me and focusing moreso on what was going on around me.  Still, I believe that the external aspect of my experience offered a lesson of its own.

Before I stepped into the labyrinth, I lingered for a while at the chair where I removed my shoes and put on my socks, reading the instructions for walking the labyrinth.  Intentionally or not, I waited until the woman who was walking the labyrinth ahead of me finished before I entered.  While I worked my way to the center of the labyrinth, I was alone, but, while I was in the center, other people arrived and started working their way inward.  Four times on my way out, I came face to face with other people, and, because of the narrow pathways, we had to negotiate our way around each other.  One woman unnecessarily whispered, "I'm sorry," as we passed each other.

I was able to control whether or not I was alone as I worked my way to the center of the labyrinth, but I had no control over whether or not I was alone as I worked my way outward.  The journey inward is supposed to be a time of letting go, and the journey outward is supposed to be a time of receiving.  I wonder if maybe the thing of which I need to let go is my tendency to avoid people, and I wonder if maybe the thing I need to receive is the willingness to face people, even though we might bump into each other and step on each other's toes, figuratively speaking.

I've always kept to myself, but, because of things that happened over the last few years, I've become even more reluctant to open myself up to people.  I tend to opt for isolation because I don't want hurt someone, disappoint someone, or get myself into a situation in which more is expected of me than I am willing to give.  I also tend to avoid people I think I've disappointed.  There are currently more than seven and one half billion people in this world, so it is inevitable that we will collide with each other from time to time.  To use an expression from the world of computer programming, perhaps the possibility of conflict in life is not a bug but rather a feature.

I wonder if maybe God is calling me to give up my avoidance of people and to risk conflict with others.  Inevitably I'll get in someone else's way or step on someone else's toes, but all I can do is to say, "Excuse me," and move on.  In the end, everything will be alright.


The photograph of the prayer labyrinth was taken by me in 2011 at Furman University.

Lenten Perspective: Clashing Kingdoms

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Clashing Kingdoms

Jesus came down from the mountain with them and stood on a large area of level ground.  A great company of his disciples and a huge crowd of people from all around Judea and Jerusalem and the area around Tyre and Sidon joined him there.  They came to hear him and to be healed from their diseases, and those bothered by unclean spirits were healed.  The whole crowd wanted to touch him, because power was going out from him and he was healing everyone.

Luke 6:17-19 (CEB)

I'm gonna pray until they tear your kingdom down

Pray until they tear your kingdom down

I heard the voice of Jesus say

Satan, your kingdom must come down

From "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down," a traditional spiritual

In the Gospels, we read that, as Jesus traveled throughout Galilee and Judea, proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God, He performed many miraculous healings and exorcisms.  Eventually, He started sending out His followers to do the same things they had been watching Him do.  Giving them "power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases," He instructed them "to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal."¹

Many Christians like to separate faith and works, but, in the Gospel story, the proclamation of the coming of the Kingdom of God was to be accompanied by healing.  For Jesus, the two were inextricably linked.

So what exactly is the connection between evangelism and healing?

Jesus once sent seventy of His followers to the places He planned to visit.  He instructed them to cure the sick as they proclaimed, "The kingdom of God has come near to you."²  It is important to realize that the coming of one kingdom means the downfall of another.  In Jesus' day, things like disease and mental illness were attributed to demons.  The coming of the Kingdom of God meant the downfall of demonic kingdoms.  Proclamation of the Good News must have been accompanied by healing, because, if people were to truly believe that the Kingdom of God had come near, then they needed to see that the kingdoms of darkness were crumbling.

When some of those who were sent out by Jesus reported back to Him, they said, astonished, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!"  Jesus replied, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning."³

When Jesus began His ministry, He paid a visit to His hometown of Nazareth.  On the sabbath day, when He attended the synagogue, He stood up to read a certain passage from the Book of Isaiah.  He read,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Jesus then sat down and said to the congregation, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  Basically, the coming of the Kingdom that Jesus announced means good news for the poor, release for prisoners, sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed.⁴

The demonic is oppressive by nature,

but the Good News of the Kingdom of God is liberating.

Nowadays, we don't typically attribute diseases and mental illnesses to evil spirits, but people still face oppression in many forms.  Demons of greed and bigotry still run rampant in our society, but the coming of the Kingdom of God means the end of such things.  People still need to hear Good News, and it's not enough to promise them everything will get better "some bright morning when this life is over."⁵  They need to see kingdoms of oppression crumble in their sight.  Modern-day evangelism must still be accompanied by the healing of illnesses, be they physical, mental, or societal.

Maybe this time of repentance known as Lent is a good time for us to rethink how we've been sharing our faith.  If it doesn't set people free, it isn't the Gospel.  Christ calls His followers to reflect His light into the world.  Light drives away darkness, so, if the world around us seems dark, then maybe we haven't been shining.


Notes:

1. Luke 9:1-2 (NRSV)
2. Luke 10:1, 9 (NRSV)
3. Luke 10:17-18 (NRSV)
4. Luke 4:16-21 (NRSV)
5. From the hymn "I'll Fly Away" by Albert E. Brumley

Christ Healing the Blind Man was painted by Eustache Le Sueur in the 1600s.

Lenten Perspective: The Wilderness and the River

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Comments are always welcomed.

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The Wilderness and the River

The Lord is my shepherd.

I lack nothing.

Psalm 23:1 (CEB)

All of You is more than enough for all of me

For every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough

From "Enough" by Chris Tomlin

Today is the first Sunday in the season of Lent.  During this roughly forty-day period from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, Christians around the world remember that Jesus once spent forty days in the wilderness, fasting and facing temptation.¹  We figuratively follow Him into the wilderness, through self-denial, introspection, and penitence.

In two of the Gospels, we read that, as Jesus grew hungry in the wilderness, He began to hear the voice of the tempter.  The tempter called His attention to a stone and said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."  Quoting the Book of Deuteronomy, Jesus replied, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"²

The tempter then somehow showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world in an instant and said to Him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority...  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."  Jesus replied, again quoting Deuteronomy, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"³

The tempter then whisked Jesus off to the roof of the temple in Jerusalem and said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here."  Quoting a Psalm, he continued, "For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"⁴  Jesus replied with yet another quote from Deuteronomy, saying, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"⁵  At this point, the tempter decided to leave Jesus alone for the time being.

When preaching on the story of Jesus' facing temptation in the wilderness, pastors are quick to point out that Jesus countered each temptation with Scripture.  Many of us learned Scripture as children, yet, truth be told, our knowledge of Scripture is not always what guides our decisions.  The story of Jesus' temptation shows us that even the devil himself knows Scripture, yet it apparently hasn't made much of a difference for him.  The truth is that, despite our knowledge of Scripture, we struggle with temptation throughout our lives.  I believe that knowledge of Scripture is beneficial, but I think that maybe something else helped Jesus to withstand temptation.

I think that maybe Jesus realized that He did not need any of the things the tempter offered Him.

The temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness are universal.  According to Henri Nouwen, there are three lies we tend to believe about our identity: I am what I do, I am what I have, and I am what people say about me.  Each of these lies is connected to a temptation Jesus faced.⁶

The first temptation Jesus faced was to define Himself by what He did.  He could have established His identity as the one who provided for Himself and for others by miraculously producing bread.  The second temptation Jesus faced was to define Himself by what He had.  He could have amassed wealth, power, and glory for Himself by following Satan and conquering the world.  The third temptation Jesus faced was to define Himself by what people said about Him.  If He had jumped off the Temple and allowed angels to catch Him, the people who witnessed the spectacle would have no doubt that He was indeed sent by God.

Before Jesus forayed into the wilderness, He stopped at the river.

One day, while people were being baptized in the Jordan River as a symbol of their penitence, Jesus went to the river to be baptized as well.  After He emerged from the water, He stopped to pray, and, as He prayed, the heavens opened.  The Holy Spirit descended and, taking the form of a dove, landed on Jesus.  A voice from heaven then said, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."⁷

I believe that, along with a knowledge of Scripture, Jesus took with Him into the wilderness what He received at the river, namely the power of the Spirit and the approval of the Father.  He did not need anything the tempter offered Him because He knew who He was.  He did not need to define Himself by what He did, what He had, or what others said about Him because he already knew that He was the beloved Son of God, with whom God was well pleased.  He knew that God claimed Him, loved Him, and delighted in Him, and that was enough for Him.

A knowledge of Scripture is an important and powerful tool, but we need to know who we are in God.  We need to know that each of us is a child of God, whom God loves, with whom God is well pleased.  We need to understand that we are enough.

I know that it can be difficult to say that God is well pleased with us or that we are enough, especially when we consider our faults and failures.  At the same time, I think that what causes us to go wrong is a failure to believe that, in God, we are enough and we have enough.

A story at the beginning of the Bible tells us that the first humans tended a garden planted by God.  We read that they were permitted to eat anything produced by the garden with the exception of the fruit of a single tree, specifically the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  One day, the tempter appeared to the humans and told them that, if they ate the fruit of this tree, the knowledge they would receive would make them like God.  The humans gave into temptation, ate the fruit they were forbidden to eat, and faced great consequences for their transgression.⁸

The first humans gave into temptation because they did not believe that they had enough or that they were enough.  They were allowed to eat anything produced by the garden with the exception of the fruit of one tree, but what they had wasn't enough for them.  They had to have the one thing they were forbidden to have.  They had been created in the image of God and made the caretakers of what God created,⁹ but what they were wasn't enough.  They had to become even more like God.

On this first Sunday in Lent, I encourage you, the reader, to spend some time at the river before you foray into the wilderness.  In other words, consider spending some time at the beginning of your day contemplating who you are in God.  Know that you are a child of God whom God loves and with whom God is well pleased.  Know that God claims you, loves you, and delights in you.  Then take this knowledge with you as you go about your day.

The wilderness is where we have the opportunity to learn that God is enough for us, and the river is where we have the opportunity to learn that we are enough for God.  Before you journey into the wilderness that is your day-to-day life, consider spending some time wading in the river of God's love.


Notes:

1. Much of this perspective is based on Luke 4:1-13.  Quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
2. Deuteronomy 8:3
3. Deuteronomy 6:13
4. Psalm 91:11-12
5. Deuteronomy 6:16
6. Henri Nouwen.  "Being the Beloved."
7. Luke 3:21-22 (NRSV)
8. Genesis 2:4b-3:24
9. Genesis 1:26-28

Christ in the Wilderness was painted by Ivan Kramskoi in 1872.

Perspective: What Do They Hear?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

What Do They Hear?

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NRSV)

Drink to all that we have lost

Mistakes we have made

Everything will change

But love remains the same

From "Love Remains the Same" by Gavin Rossdale

The thirteenth chapter of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians is perhaps one of the most beautiful discourses on love.  It begins with those immortal words: "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."  It reminds us, "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude."  It teaches us that love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  It assures us that, when all else is lost, "faith, hope, and love abide" and that "the greatest of these is love."¹

What many call the "Love Chapter" is often read at weddings, but it was not written with romantic love in mind.  What most of us don't consider is that Paul actually wrote it amid a discussion on spiritual gifts and how they should be expressed in worship services.  The church in Corinth had a lot of problems, not the least of which were self-centeredness and disunity within the congregation.  Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians in order to address these problems.

Paul reminds his readers that, as followers of Jesus, they are like individual parts that together make up a single body, namely the Body of Christ.  Each part is gifted by the Holy Spirit to carry out an individual function, and, when all parts do what they are gifted and called to do, together they carry on the work of Christ in the world.  Each part of the Body is necessary, and every spiritual gift is indispensable.  One is not permitted to diminish the spiritual gifts or functions of another, nor is one permitted to diminish one's own gifts and functions.  All of the parts are interconnected.  The thriving of the whole depends on the thriving of the parts, and, when one part suffers, the whole body is afflicted.²

Paul encourages his readers to "strive for the greater gifts" and then goes on to describe "a still more excellent way," which is love.³  In light of what Paul has said about the purpose of the Church, the "Love Chapter" teaches us three things.  First, no matter what we do as the Church, it is all for naught if it is not done out of love.⁴  Jesus was the incarnation of love itself, so the Body of Christ must likewise embody love.  Second, because the Church is made up of interconnected members who collectively reflect the Light of Christ in the world, members must seek the common good.  Love, according to Paul, "does not insist on its own way."⁵  Third, love will outlast anything else the Church will ever do.⁶

Whatever we do as the Church, we must make sure that we are motivated by love.

Paul encourages his readers to "pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts."⁷  He then goes on to discuss two specific spiritual gifts, both of which involve speaking: tongues and prophecy.  One speaks in tongues when one is so overcome by an ecstatic experience that one begins to speak unintelligibly.  It is a gift that many people in Paul's day wanted to experience, and many who had experienced it thought that they were closer to God than those who had not experienced it.  Prophecy, on the other hand, is the gift of communicating God's will to others.⁸

Paul suggests that, even though speaking in tongues can be a great blessing to an individual, prophecy is actually a preferable spiritual gift to pursue.  Speaking in tongues is only meaningful to the one who is speaking, because only God could possibly understand what the speaker is saying.  Speaking a word of prophecy, on the other hand, is beneficial to anyone who hears.⁹

Paul asks his readers to consider what a person outside their faith might hear if she were to wander into one of their gatherings.  If she heard everyone speaking in tongues, she would think that they all had lost their minds, and she would not want to come back.  If, on the other hand, she heard a prophetic word in the gathering, she might feel in her heart that God was speaking directly to her.  Paul concludes, "Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers."¹⁰  In other words, speaking in tongues keeps people out, but a prophetic word draws people in.

It is evident that Paul is concerned about what the world is hearing from the Church.  Are people hearing wisdom from the Church, or are they hearing nonsense?

I think that modern-day Christians need to be concerned about what the world is hearing from the Church in our day and time.  Are people being drawn in by our love, or are they being repelled by our rhetoric?  Are people hearing messages of hope, or are they hearing messages of condemnation?  Are people hearing that they are loved and accepted by God and by the Church, or are they hearing that they are, for some reason, "incompatible" with the Church?

May we who call ourselves Christians be self-aware.  May we consider not only what we think we are saying to the world but also what the world is actually hearing from us.  May we be motivated by love alone, and may we repent of anything else that is driving us.


Notes:

1. 1 Corinthians 13 (NRSV)
2. 1 Corinthians 12
3. 1 Corinthians 12:31 (NRSV)
4. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
5. 1 Corinthians 13:5-7 (NRSV)
6. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
7. 1 Corinthians 14:1 (NRSV)
8. William Barclay.  The Letters to the Corinthians, Revised Edition.  1975, Westminster Press.  pp. 127-8
9. 1 Corinthians 14:1-5 (NRSV)
10. 1 Corinthians 14:22-25 (NRSV)

The drawing of ancient Corinth appeared in The American Cyclopædia, published in 1879.