spiritual regurgitations

Immortal Diamond - Take Seven!

  “We would rather be ruined than changed.  We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.”  W.H. Auden

Richard Rohr’s last published book, Immortal Diamond, has been formative in my heart and life over the past weeks.  As many of you know, I spent much of the Lenten season in 2013 reading and re-reading Rohr’s work.

Here’s a quote to start your day off today:

“Re-ligio (rebuilding, re-ligamenting) is not doing its job if it only reminds you of your distance, your unworthiness, your sinfulness, and your inadequacy before God’s greatness.  Whenever religion actually increases the gap, it becomes anti-religion instead.  I am afraid we have lots of anti-religion in all denominations.  Such gap-creating between God and creation is truly diabolical (dia-balein in Greek, “to throw apart”) and he (Jesus) calls it so:  “Alas for you hypocrites.  You shut up the kingdom of heaven in peoples’ faces, neither going in yourself, nor allowing others to go in who want to” (Matthew 23:13).”

 “Dead giveaways.” That’s what we call them. They are those things that unveil the truth about some subject or person.  For example, you notice a middle aged gentleman driving a red sports car down by the beach in the middle of the day.  Isn’t that a ‘dead giveaway” of a possible mid-life crisis?  Or you see a young couple browsing through “Babies R Us.”  Isn’t that a dead giveaway that the “she” in the couple may be expecting a baby?  I am a college professor who not too long ago received a paper from a student that had the following on the bottom of the last page, "This essay is from www.essays.com - join today!"  There it was…a dead giveaway of cheating, don’t you agree?

When it comes to how we see ourselves as followers of Jesus there are a few dead giveaways.  One of them is Kingdom action.  In other words, how you see yourself, how you view your identity in Jesus will be lived out through your lifestyle, the choices and decisions you make, your attitudes, habits and how the Kingdom is manifested through and in you.  Action reveals identity.  Frankly, everything you do is a demonstration of how you see your true identity.  That’s why Jesus said; “you will know them by the fruit of their lives” (Matthew 12:33).  You see, here is the truth of scripture – because of God’s grace and Spirit, Jesus not only takes care of your past identity but He gives you a new identity.  As Paul says in Galatians 2:20, the power of sin, and the power of our old nature is gone…it has been crucified, buried in the death of Jesus.  You old identity as “sinner” is gone and defeated while you are given a new identity that of “saint”.  

There has been a debate raging for centuries in Christianity over the identity of a believer.  Are we sinners or saints?   Many Christ-followers struggle in their lives because they have bought into a lie.  For example, a counselor was counseling a teenager and he asked her, “Who are you?” She said, “I am evil”. He said, “you’re not evil; how can a child of God be evil; is that how you see yourself?”  That was how she saw herself and, because of that, she was living an absolutely miserable life.  Many believers get caught up in a downward spiral.  We fail, so we see ourselves as failures, which only leads to more failure.  We sin, we see ourselves as sinners, which only leads to more sin.  The word “sinner” is often used to describe both a person’s performance and identity.  But that’s not the way the bible puts it.  If you’re a Jesus follower, you have a new identity.  When Christ entered (and enters) your life YOU became a new creation, you inherited from God a new identity.  

Someone once wrote, ”You can no more be a sinner saved by grace than you can be a married single person”.  Do you get that?  Marriage changes your identity and you wear a ring to “remind you of this special occasion”.  If you struggle with sin, as most believers do, it is because you are a saint who sins.  People cannot consistently behave in ways that are inconsistent with the way they perceive themselves.  That’s why the Key issue lies in your personal identity – call yourself a sinner, if the label “sinner” brands your identity, you’ll live that out.  On the other hand, if you call yourself a saint…if every day you say in mirror “hi saint (your name here)”…if you believe that, you’ll find your life becoming consistent to your new identity.  Being a follower of Jesus is not a matter of getting something, it is a matter of being someone.  A Christian is not just a person who gets grace and goes to heaven.  A Christian is a person whose deepest sense of personal identity has been shaped by the power of God and who is growing to live that out in a fuller sense now and throughout eternity.

Let’s put a more mature face on these truths – anybody can change their behavior.  It is ALWAYS easier to “externally do or not do rather than undergo a radical transformation of our very mind and heart (Rohr, Immortal Diamond).”  You see, just because you are a saint doesn’t you have adopted some form of moralism to prove, via technique or ritual, some private perfection.  Rohr writes,

“It is NOT that you can be independently “good” without the love and mercy of God (or anybody else for that matter).”

Remember this about “moralism”…any moralistic agenda is usually utilized by people who want to be insiders of a particular group.  When others say that you are not good enough, or holy enough, or moral enough, or trained enough, or theologically astute enough these are BOUNDARY markers placed in your path and mine to tear down that for which Jesus died.  Any boundary, any wall, or agenda that separates those whom God has called and sacrificed for the purpose of oneness is just as Rohr says, “anti-religious.”  See Ephesians 2 on that one!  You see, the GOOD NEWS of what Jesus has and is doing is that we are now no longer to be motivated in life by outside reward or punishment but by a NEW identity.  You and me are not longer so much “driven from without as we are driven from within.” So the question of faith and identity is not about earning anything or excluding anybody it is rather this – does your life give any evidence of an encounter with God?  Here’s a hard truth about history – what most Christian history did was largely dress up and disguise the sinner (what we’ve talked about in other devotionals as the “false self”) instead of focusing on transformation.  Rohr writes,

“We baptized it, confirmed it, married it, and made Christians go to church instead of realizing they were the Church (1 Corinthians 3:17)…it always had to be mediated by a Bible, priest, minister, church or sacrament, and very often the mediators, and the defending of their meditations, became the primary message itself.  Most sermons reminded us quickly of our unworthiness before first telling us of our inherent worthiness.  Many were so deep in a black hole of low self-image that they had no way to climb back out.”

As Paul says in Romans 3,  “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?”

In other words, there were and have been and there still are some that would rather keep us trapped in a dead identity instead of encouraging freedom and turning our attention to God’s faithfulness in crafting our new identity.  I have to stop now…here are some sections of scripture to read and on which to meditate as you glorify the Lord for His new life in and through you!

Further Reading:  Romans 1:7, Ephesians 2:19-21, Mark 2:21-22, Ephesians 4:24, 2 Corinthians 5:17

Immortal Diamond - Resurrection Edition

Sometimes, it is hard to wake up!  Had that experience before?  One of the most popular modern conveniences we have is something we call the “snooze alarm”…love it or hate it, it is still modern necessity for most of us.  Why a necessity?  Because if the truth were known, no one really wants to wake up!  You see, sleep is more than a physical state. "Sleep" can actually be a great metaphor for a mental state or, for many of us, the state of our lives!  The phrase “sleep walking through life” just doesn’t apply to those who are actually sleeping anymore.  It is actually a relatively “easy to define” state of being.  In fact, there is actually a "SLEEPWALKING through Life diagnosis" being given by some psychologists and therapists…see if any of these symptoms apply to you:

1.  Lack awareness of bigger picture – bigger world.

2.  Not living in alignment with real purpose in life.

3.  Auto pilot living – going through motions.

4.  Engaging in non-value added activities – addictions to gaming, eating, TV – wasting time and life.

5.  Passive or denial based approach to life.

6.  Can’t find time to do the things you want to do.

7.  Unconscious of thoughts/emotions.

8.  Lack of ambition or motivation.

You see, you can live your entire life in an unconscious state, not aware of what’s really going on, living, as one author I read said, "a DRONE like or ROBOT life existence."

Here's something for you to chew on - Resurrection is the ULTIMATE wake up call! Resurrection is God’s way of saying, “WAKE UP!”  Let me tell you why:

"...and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people."  Matthew 27:52-53 (NLT)

Now for some of you, you might be thinking, “cool, the first references to Zombies in the bible." But let me assure you that it has NOTHING to do with Zombies.  What it does have to do with is this – Jesus’ resurrection was MORE than just about Jesus!   Here’s how this works itself out:  Each of these words in these two verses have HUGE implications – I’m just going to take two:

• "kekoimEmenOn" – what is translated in many contemporary translations as “dead” is actually better translated, “laid down to rest or fallen asleep or asleep”

• "EgerthE" – what is translated “raised” as in, raised from the dead, is actually better translated “wake up or woken or woken up or ROUSED” 

So actually it reads better like this - 52 The tombs also were opened, and many the saints who had fallen asleep were woken up. 53 And After his resurrection they came out of their “tombs” and entered the holy city and appeared to many. (NRSV)

OR, better yet, for MY purposes:  "When Jesus rose the people who had fallen asleep were told, “wake up” and when they did, they came out of their “tombs”, come out of their state of sleep and started showing up in their world."

Here's the point - Resurrection is dangerous, friends…resurrection wakes people up!

Now, I must digress for a minute or two though in order to explain to you why Resurrection does what it does.  You would think that we would GET resurrection!  You see, the resurrection of Jesus was a turning point in history but it wasn’t something completely NEW from what God had been doing since the beginning of time.  When people I’ve known over the years say that they can’t believe in a resurrected Jesus, I’ve told them, "what’s so weird about raising from the dead…resurrection is all around us all the time."  God has and is always about bringing things to life.  One of the reasons so many of us look forward to Spring is because it is the time of NEW LIFE.  Dormant flower bulbs deep in the ground wake up and produce glorious flowers.  Grass that has lied fallow for months now is begging to be cut.  There are a 1000s upon 1000s of kinds of newness every single day. In fact, it is so common we forget just how powerful it is.  Resurrection is reveals is every aspect of creation – yet for some reason, we are still surprised how leary people get when we talk about it.  You see, Death seems to grab our attention and us more effectively than new life – I don’t necessarily know why that is but it just is!  Death grabs our imaginations, fascinates us, emotes all sorts of feelings of fear and negativity in us.  The truth is human beings have spent centuries trying to solve the problem of EVIL and death when it is MUCH MORE CONFOUNDING that as we do that we ignore what is truly astonishing and staring us right in the face – NEW LIFE!

The New Testament tells us that what happened on Good Friday with Jesus’ disciples and it is the same dynamic that happens to us - we all focus in on Jesus’ death (good thing in many respects don’t get me wrong) but when all we expect to see and have is a dead Jesus on a cross, when all we expect is a sleep walking Jesus who gives birth to sleep walking followers it is as if Jesus were still in the tomb and the stone is still there, then we've missed the point.  In many respects we forget the ONE THING about Jesus that started the whole story – Jesus was the INCARNATED – made real in the flesh God.  Jesus wasn’t just a human being or a great teacher, Jesus was God, the Savior of the World…the Alpha and Omega of history.  For many of us sleepwalking through life we don’t get it!  We don't get that JOY and EXCITEMENT and GROWTH should be a natural by-product of the "resurrection soaked life."

I hate to write this but many faith communities that I’ve seen and even been a part of where more dictated by the reality of death than NEW LIFE!   Here’s what Jesus was about in Resurrection:  Rohr writes, "Jesus didn’t come to change the mind of God about humanity and you and me…Jesus came to change the minds of humanity, you and me about God."  You see, resurrection is God’s reality – Resurrection is God’s final word on what he plans to do with every life.  Resurrection is God’s pledge and guarantee of what God will do with all of our crosses and with all of our suffering.  Resurrection isn’t some sort of temporal optimism – it is not just a big picture about who Jesus is or proof that Christianity is true or even proof that there is life after death!  The Resurrection of Jesus is MUCH BIGGER THAN THAT and much more pervasive.  It shows us once and for all – wake up!  Wake up to the fact that because of the Resurrection there are NO MORE only dark clouds in life – there are silver linings to all of the darkest hours we experience.

Rohr says, "Easter – the Resurrection shakes everything up – the Resurrected Jesus is the standing ICON of humanity in its final and full destiny." The resurrection is God’s final pledge of what he will do with all our crucifixions.  The resurrection is God’s promise that NO hurt is immune from God’s transformational process – HE, God turns hurts into Hopes.  HURTS INTO HOPES...think about that and meditate on that for a bit!  It really is LIFE changing!

I learned two new words this week,  "evasion and untethered."  Both have to do with what happened when smart phones got “disconnected” from specific networks.  In other words, for example with an Apple iPhone, you can now PICK a provider of service instead of having to buy a phone and be TETHERED to one specific cell service.  The software/firmware to do that is called, “evasion.”  So here’s how this correlates – the Resurrection is the ULTIMATE evasion firmware for your life and mine.  Resurrection is the ultimate jailbreak from an operating system in the world that is tethered to death, sadness, and destruction.  You see, God is untethered in the resurrection – as long as Jesus is in the tomb, that’s where we expect him to be…dead, or asleep – definitely not alive and messing around with our lives.  But no, when we are most preoccupied with stability and control, when we are most satisfied with sleepwalking, boredom and even death, here comes the resurrected Jesus!

Here’s the bottom line – ONCE you know in your heart of hearts that there is NEW LIFE as promise of God for you:

You can live with faith!  You can rest with purpose and a living hope!  You can take the risk of loving all the time because even your mistakes and misfires are redeemable.  If the crucifixion is God’s way of standing in solidarity with every bit of suffering, tragedy and disaster and death with the assurance that HE will have the final word, then the Resurrection is that FINAL WORD!  SO that WE CAN LIVE IN HOPE.  OUR HEARTS AND LIVES CAN WAKE UP TO THE GREAT HOPE FOR LIFE NOT JUST IN THE ETERNAL KINGDOM BUT LIVING IN AND FOR HIS KINGDOM RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW.  No wonder that’s a wake up call!  No wonder that the people in Jesus’ time who were asleep WOKE UP and started testifying to that type of love and power in their lives and in their world.

I’ve often wondered, what if we just didn't remember the resurrection but actually could find some way to RE-LIVE it?  The concept of "remembering" in Hebrew means essentially that –relive or re-experience.  What if the risen Jesus woke some of us up today?  What would we do?  What if, like the post resurrection appearances of Jesus – what if we were safely tucked away in our little church building expecting a dead Jesus only to have the LIVING JESUS walk right down this center aisle?  I wonder – whom would He comfort, whom would He confront?  Who would He heal?  Who would He forgive?  What tables would He overturn?  And what would we do as a result?   So, what about you?

Immortal Diamond - Take FIVE!

 “We would rather be ruined than changed.  We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.”  W.H. Auden

Warning – Steep and Deep Waters ahead – only for the courageous

Richard Rohr’s last published book, Immortal Diamond, has been formative in my heart and life over the past weeks.  As many of you know, I spent much of the Lenten season in 2013 reading and re-reading Rohr’s work

Look up the word “Metaphor” sometime on Google.  Not only will you get a definition of the word but you’ll receive some examples that will bring the word to life.  We use metaphors constantly.  Try these on for size: 

• Broken heart
• The light of my life
• It's raining men
• Time is a thief
• He is the apple of my eye
• Bubbly personality
• Feel blue
• Fade off to sleep
• Inflamed your temper
• Rollercoaster of emotions
• Stench of failure

There doesn’t seem to be a moment in life that can’t be captured by some metaphor.  The primary reason we utilize metaphors in language is that we are attempting to paint word pictures.  We are attempting to experientially illustrate what we are experiencing through communicative content, helping another person to understand what we are feeling or thinking.  If you think about it further, even language itself is a metaphor…words are formed as a means to communicating to another human being our perceptions, ideas, and emotions.  The truth is, we cannot experience life without metaphor. 

Think about the realm of the infinite – how do you capture in language that is finite something that is “transrational” or spiritual?  We have no real words for God.  We really don’t…every time you attempt to explain God to someone, the best you can do is use metaphor.  He is “my rock, fortress, deliverer, Savior, Lord, Eternal/Ultimate reality, etc.  As Rohr points out in “key section” of Immortal Diamond is the understanding that Metaphor is the “only possible language available to religion.”  Why is that true?  According to Rohr,

“…Because it alone is honest about Mystery.”

In other words, there is always available to those who use metaphor in communication DEEPER meaning and understanding.  I think it is EXTREMELY provocative and profound that he spells it out this way:

“Metaphor is invariably more meaning, not less. Literalism is the lowest and least level of meaning.” 

Jesus used metaphor constantly in his teaching.  Parables, primarily, are Kingdom “snapshots.”  They are expressions of God’s reign and what it “looks like” to experience it.  To say it any other way would rob us of some of the deep, satisfying and challenging meaning of Jesus’ words on discipleship.  The Kingdom is “mustard seed, a sower and seeds being sown, a loving father’s acceptance of a wayward son, a valuable pearl, a pinch of yeast, salt and light, and the list goes on.  Think about it this way:

“Often that which looks like mere symbol is indeed the doorway to all that you really need to know – if you approach it humbly and respectfully.  How else could an always-available God be always available?  It cannot depend on having a college education or even a common education, but on a simple ability to read the symbolic universe, which some ancients seem to have done much better than we do.” 

In other words, without metaphor (without art, music, and literature – all forms of metaphor) meaning would be restricted to the intellectually elite.  That’s why it is often the “educated” that attempt to “lord” over others…they sincerely believe that most of us don’t “get it.”  Metaphors give us an opportunity to reframe, reorganize and reset core meanings again and again.  Why is that?  Because our experience always “expands” the meaning of a text or spiritual truth.  In other words, meaning continues to be MORE MEANINGFUL when a divergent of personal experience is brought to bear.  Let me put it this way – if there were NO MORE NEED to experience meaning, life and salvation in Jesus, why would we work so hard to articulate the Gospel into our primary life context?  Why not JUST read the bible and NOT attempt to “translate” that meaning into our contemporary world?  Metaphor expands meaning and transcends one particular time in space and experience.  Again, meaning in life needs to be experienced anew for every time, age and relationship…metaphor gives us an opportunity to re-understand and reorient our lives around meaning as it gets PERSONAL in and to us.  Metaphors CARRY US BEYOND (actually meaning of the Greek word, “meta-phore”). 

What does all this mean to you and me?  We are living in the shadow of a historical “movement” that confused the rational and provable with what is “real.”  It is still called the Enlightenment (though Rohr, and I agree with him, sees this historical time as actually “wrongly named”).  During the Enlightenment (which by the way occurred at the same time as the Reformation) mystery became dogma and faith became more intellectually driven by creed than something that is alive in heart and action.  Experiencing God became a science project and knowing Jesus was relegated to propositional statements and explorations in history.  Don’t get me wrong, there is importance to an intellectual journey of faith…but when Mystery becomes over analyzed and robbed of “metaphor”, the life gets sucked out of it.  Jesus said the same thing when he said that parables would “confound the wise” and when he remarked to Thomas, “happy are those who believe without seeing.”  In Mystery, our inner world and the outer world meet…God comes to humanity…the Word becomes flesh…meaning takes shape in the heart which is the ONLY place where the well-spring of life has the potential to be transformed. 

So, what metaphor would you use to describe your relationship and understand of God?  What words would summarize your life as a disciple?  Sometimes, the best way to articulate your experience is through a poem, song or piece of art.  Sometimes you don’t need to say anything but use the “metaphor” of humble submission, a hand raised in praise, a knee bent in worship, or a deep breath of trust.  If you feel like you “measure up” to those who supposedly can articulate and understand the faith “better”, remember, metaphor levels the playing field.  Everyone can express and experience the Kingdom as the Mystery of God makes itself real and present in our lives.  

Immortal Diamond - Take FOUR!

  “We would rather be ruined than changed.  We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.”  W.H. Auden

Warning – Steep and Deep Waters ahead – only for the courageous 

Richard Rohr’s last published book, Immortal Diamond, has been formative in my heart and life over the past weeks.  As many of you know, I spent much of the Lenten season in 2013 reading and re-reading Rohr’s work.   

Sometimes, you just have to call them as you see them.  That isn’t just a reality for a baseball umpire or someone who evaluates or inspects, it is a foundational truth for all of us.  To live otherwise is to live in a fantasy.  To not deal with reality leads to a plethora of life dysfunctions, from relationships to personal struggles.  Dealing with reality is that first “step” toward a better life, a healed heart, a more intimate relationship and fuller sense of truth in your soul.  Someone once told me a long time ago that we are only as “sick as our secrets.”  I couldn’t imagine a more true statement as we enter into another section of Richard Rohr’s book, Immortal Diamond. 

Since we have investigated a couple of terms over the past couple of weeks, that being, a sense of what it means to be live our lives out of a “true self” (see last week’s devotional), this week we’ll dive into the “flip side of the coin.”  As I mentioned above, reality is a good place to start when we take steps toward living in God’s light.  Before we discover MORE about what it means to live out of a true sense of self in the love and grace of God, Rohr postures that we need to understand and embrace that reality which fills our lives, that being, a false sense of self. 

“Your false self is NOT your bad self, your clever or inherently deceitful self, the self that God does not like or you should not like.  Actually your false self is quite good and necessary…it just does not go far enough, and it often poses and thus substitutes for the real thing…the false self is more bogus than bad…it only pretends to be more than what it is.”  (Immortal Diamond, page 27)

All of us continually “live” out of our false self because that self is primarily that which shapes our beliefs about who we are.  Rohr states that it is wrapped up in our body image, job, education, financial state, car, degrees, success, and those other trappings of our ego that is our projection of who we are onto the world.  Over a lifetime, the problem is that the false self (or small self) gets very comfortable.  We might even say that it is easy to OWN and continue to be attached to that sense of self.  There are a host of “payoffs” from living out of our small self – payoffs like respect, titles, salaries, self-esteem, etc.  That’s why Jesus’ words, “whosever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:39)” are always so threatening to people.  Despite the fact that Jesus does promise fulfillment in the midst of denying self (a promise of life inexhaustible and abundant), it feels to most of us that to do so ushers in the end of our existence.  And, heaven forbid, that happens!  Thus we tenaciously hang on to that which gives immediate (or at least what we perceive is tangible) gratification.

Unfortunately, we don’t deal with reality in our love of the false self because, it is precisely that self, that is the foundation of most of our addictions TO ourselves (which, in essence, is the definition of idolatry and, thus, original sin).   Despite the truth that that self is a social construct (in other words, that which is “made or created” from roles and identities we embrace from outside of ourselves), even as Jesus would say a “wineskin” (Mark 2:21-22), take it from me, that sense of self HATES and fights change.  In a brilliant move of religiosity, the false self often invents and utilizes a whole list of supposedly spiritual “acts” to prove its value.  Moralism or spiritual legalism (lists of dos and don’ts that we live out to prove we are spiritual or acceptable to God), those acts which Rohr calls, “arbitrary and small”, are quick and easy applications that we are apt to embrace over against the call of Jesus to deny ALL.  We say to ourselves, “if I can be good, visibly and remarkably good and I can rightfully judge others at the same time from a position of rightness/holiness or spirituality, then I have attained that which my soul seeks.”  How preposterous!  At that point, a personal sacrifice (that being, a hidden sacrifice, so no “prid pro quo” is demanded of God) is the ONLY way that the false self dies so that a NEW self can be resurrected in and through the Spirit of God.  Rohr writes,

“The false self will create minor moral victories (like people who are scrupulous about church attendance or doctrinal minutiae) to avoid the major and necessary one (like underpaying their employees or demeaning their wife).  As Jesus put it, ‘You will strain out gnats and swallow camels” (Matthew 23:24). 

“Satan does not tempt you so much with ‘hot sins’ like greed, lust, and gross ambition.  They are too obviously evil and will eventually show themselves as such.  Instead Satan tempts you to do proper, defensible, and often admired things but for cold, malicious, or self-centered reasons.  Maybe we cannot see this pattern because we actually admire the glamour of evil (1 John 2:15-17) and we often disdain the seeming weakness of holiness and virtue (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).”

What does all of this mean?  I think ONE MORE quote will suffice:

“A true saint is no longer surprised by his littleness or her greatness.” 

You see, the false self DOES care about those things…and when we grow to grasp the meaning and power of “littleness”, when we understand that “mustard seed type of faith”, when we are no longer admirers of parts, labels or hierarchies, when we are more attracted to and motivated from the perspective of WHOSE we are rather than WHO we are, then we have truly walked into a new life.  Instead of being so consumed with right/wrong, good/bad, or truth/lies, Rohr believes (and I second his opinion) that once we get our “I am” correct then those scenarios tend to take care of themselves.  In other words, once you get YOU straight IN THE LORD, then God will take care of the details.  That’s why faith is a journey and life as a follower of Jesus is about trust.  Trust is that “letting go” of false self to FIND true self and meaning in and through Jesus.  How about that!

Immortal Diamond - Take THREE!

 “We would rather be ruined than changed.  We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.”  W.H. Auden

 Warning – Steep and Deep Waters ahead – only for the courageous

Richard Rohr’s last published book, Immortal Diamond, has been formative in my heart and life over the past weeks.  As many of you know, I spent much of the Lenten season in 2013 reading and re-reading Rohr’s work.      

“Dead giveaways.”  That’s what we call them. They are those things that unveil the truth about some subject or person.  For example, you notice a middle aged gentleman driving a red sports car on Pacific Highway in California, right by the beach in the middle of the day…isn’t that a ‘dead giveaway” of a mid-life crisis?  Or you see a young couple browsing through a “Babies R Us” store…isn’t that a dead giveaway that they may be expecting a baby?  In addition to my life in a faith community, I am also a college professor.  Not too long ago I received a term paper from a student that had the following on the bottom of the last page, "This essay is from www.essays.com - join today!"  Dead giveaway of cheating, isn’t it?

When it comes to how we see ourselves as followers of Jesus, there are a few dead giveaways.  Rohr says that the “curiosity about ourselves grows more intense (through our lives) as we try on a dozen costumes and roles and we surely covet any recognition or praise of our most recent incarnation.”  Isn’t that true?  I read that in the first chapter of the Immortal Diamond and I paused and thought, “How did Father Rohr get into my head?”  Here’s my confession – I’ve been trying all kinds of different “costumes and roles” throughout my life attempting to find the “McGuffin” of success and personal peace.  One of the reasons I’m so darned impulsive is that I appear to NEVER be satisfied.  Just when I think, “I’ve finally made it,” I realize in moments of quiet that there still is restlessness in my heart.  For years I thought it had to do with boredom or simply that I could never settle down in life and finish a specific “race.”  But now I’ve discovered something deeper, that being, despite my vocal and lifestyle proclamation of being a follower of Jesus, I’m still looking for success in “small/false” self.  I keep expecting that the most recent dressing up in that costume/role will deliver.  What I fail to understand, and what I pray I can grow in understanding, is that following Jesus is not as much about “dressing up” as it is “dressing down.” 

Thomas Merton (another great spiritual mentor) once wrote,

“If I had a message to my contemporaries it is surely this:  Be anything you like, be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing:  success…If you are too obsessed with success, you will forget to live.  If you have learned only how to be a success, your life has probably been wasted.”

Rohr again, 

“Success is hardly ever your TRUE self, only your early window dressing.  It gives you some momentum for the journey but it is never the real goal.  You do not know that, however.  In the moment, if just feels right and good and necessary – and it is.  For a short while.”  

All I can say is, “OUCH!”  Why?  Because this pursuit has been my life’s M.O.  I have worked hard and attempted to get to the top of that “mountain” of success and recognition in order to plant the flag of my identity in a pile of accomplishments…now, I realize that I’ve been climbing the wrong mountain (and that all my accomplishments and “costumes” are the real “pile”).  For those of you who know me, you would be correct in having a different expectation of how this all comes out in the wash especially because I have so passionately and publically aligned myself with what most of us regard as the REAL meaning in life.  Even so, as we’ve been alluding to in other devotionals, it is easy to USE religion as a costume or role.  We can easily use religion for one more opportunity for some sort of existential, spiritual or personal “success.”  We can use religious goods and services well…we can prove to anyone who is watching that we are “more spiritual, more biblically astute, more worshipful or spiritually gifted” than others and thus, are religiously successful.  Even those of us who rely on GOD’S GRACE as a means of anchoring our spiritual journey…we talk a good line but rarely live it. 

Here’s what I see Rohr doing in this early part of his book – he says clearly that “religion’s main ‘job’ is to purely and simply do one thing: to tell us, and keep reminding us of who we objectively are.”  When we are babbling on largely about ourselves, Grace keeps reminding us of who, or better yet, WHOSE, we really are.  Friends, religion and spiritual acts were NEVER meant to be used as boundary markers of acceptability, merit badges of being a good person, or reward for decent behavior.  In this instance I agree with Father Rohr, a little bit of enlightenment is a very dangerous thing.  Why?  Because for many of us, religious acts, affiliations and beliefs are more like props in our lives of righteousness instead of simply that which proceeds out of an “endowed” identity that we receive as gift. 

Jesus said, “REJOICE only that your name is written in heaven (Luke10:20).”  If we could really, really, really (did I write, “really”?) understand and feast on that truth it would change our whole life agenda.  Before we take another step or have another feeling of inadequacy or discomfort or feel like we will never be good enough…if only we would just STOP our climbing, contending, competing or criticizing…if only we would stop “accessorizing” our fragile self, we would do what Jesus has been waiting for us to do our whole lives:  fall into His loving arms (“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall NOT want…” Psalm 23:1).  One last illustration from the book,

“St. Teresa of Avila used a metaphor when she described how you can either keep digging the channel or find the actual spring and let it just flow toward you, in you and from you.” 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t need too many hints on WHO that “spring” is?  I’m jumping in…how about you?

 

 

Immortal Diamond - Take TWO!

“We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.” W.H. Auden

Warning – Steep and Deep Waters ahead – only for the courageous

Richard Rohr’s last published book, Immortal Diamond, has been formative in my heart and life over the past weeks. As many of you know, I spent much of the Lenten season in 2013 reading and re-reading Rohr’s work. Last week, we started a new devotional series using this powerful, spiritual resource. Over the coming weeks, our devotionals will continue to be reflections on some of the things that made a difference in my life! I pray you are blessed and encouraged.

A month ago, when we were preparing for Easter, I spent an evening in our faith community’s worship gathering talking about “McGuffins.” Sounds odd, doesn't it? What is a “McGuffin?” A “McGuffin” is a movie or story “technique” that attempts to, not only involve, but also be that which draws a viewer or reader into the story. A “McGuffin” is that which needs to be attained by the protagonist…it is “getting the girl”, stopping the bomb from exploding, finding the cache of riches buried in some ancient location, in other words, it is that which DRIVES the main character to find personal fulfillment. Every good story not only has a “villain” or some sort of conflict that the story’s progression depends upon but has this gnawing sense that SOMETHING HUGE must be attained or accomplished. And don’t think this doesn’t occur in your daily life or mine. If you think about it, we are all “after” something in life. Deep within our souls, everyone has that which they feel and believe will bring personal fulfillment. In many respects, just like that of a good novel or movie, our “McGuffin” comes in a variety of forms from possessions, to people, or a dream of temporal success (to name just a few). Yet, most of us ALSO KNOW that none of those things bring true fulfillment. Yes, “McGuffins” make for good movies and good “reads” but NEVER a good life!

As Rohr states in the Immortal Diamond,

“Conservatives look for absolute truth; liberals look for something real and authentic. Spouses look for a marriage that will last ‘til death does us part. Believers look for a God who will never fail them; scientists look for a universal theory. They are all on the same quest. We are all looking for an immortal diamond: something utterly reliable, something loyal and true, something we can always depend on, something unforgettable and shining.”

Psychologists, theologians, counselors, pretty much all self-aware and truth-seeking individuals know that this search is real. The REAL ISSUE is where we seek and where we eventually stop the search and find the peace our soul so longs to experience. In seeking the truth, Richard Rohr says, we enter our hearts. The “heart” has long and deep biblical roots. Scripture refers to the heart as that part of our lives that is more than the physical organ circulating blood throughout our bodies, but that aspect of our lives that taps the deepest sense of who we are. The heart is the center of our identity. Because of that, we need to understand what we eventually discover when we search for fulfillment. MOST of us understand that that which is outside of our being (possessions, relationships, accomplishments, etc.) won’t bring us ultimate meaning yet, interestingly enough, when we DO go to our heart we end up looking for exactly that! We search for a satisfying of our EGO and not our SPIRIT.

Confused? Let me explain: Most of us live out two distinct identities over the course of our lives – that which we build from the very beginning of our self-awareness; that which is focused on accomplishments, degrees, awards, recognition, roles all of which promise to bring a sense of importance, and other factors that stoke the fires of our EGO. Don’t misunderstand me here…the EGO isn’t bad or even wrong. WHAT IT IS, IS MISGUIDED. The “ego” is, to use a Rohr-ian phrase, our “small self,” that which we know about from our daily experience. Rohr goes so far as to say that the “small self, false self” is OUR common default in life. You know what I mean by “default?” Permit me to explain: for example, our “default” in the morning is tiredness, a need for food, coffee and, in some cases, a good make-up session or teeth brushing. We don't wake up ready for the day…our default is MUCH different. It is the same with the ego. Our default position in life (some theologians, including myself, would call this “original sin”) is that which seeks individualistic fulfillment via a host of outward works that convince our hearts that we are significant. Unfortunately, our default never delivers. Sooner or later people’s praise or our materialistic rewards or other “props” that we accumulate in life to make ourselves feel good about ourselves end up running out of gas. And, what are we left with? Ourselves and a lack of fulfillment and peace.

Even for those who have a professed “spiritual journey”, it often is the same dynamic at work with a religious mask. In other words, those of us who claim we believe in God and trust that relationship to bring us ultimate meaning and purpose in life will often create and arbitrarily manufacture spiritual hoops to jump through SO THAT WE CAN PROVE TO OURSELVES AND OTHERS that we have “made it.” We separate ourselves into that which is moral and godly and that which isn’t…we reason that if we can gather God’s attention as, at least, being a person who is “trying” to get life right that we will have attained life’s ultimate goal. It doesn’t even matter, in most respects, what these arbitrary rules do to us and others (I don’t know if you have noticed this but few people really keep personal, moral rules to themselves…they end of measuring, or better yet, “judging” the world by that same criteria), the proof (God’s love and affirmation) is in the “pudding.” You see, when we deny our identity as that which is encompassed in our hearts (or souls), that which is proclaimed by God to be “loved, a child of God, a saint whom is gifted by grace”, all we have left are rules and hoops, all of which net us nothing but frustration, anger and meaninglessness. When we make FAITH into “hoops” and not about love, then everything within ourselves and in our relationships and world because that which crushes our TRUE identity IN Jesus.

Here’s where we need to end this devotional – “when you and me have found our absolute reference point that is both utterly within you and utterly beyond you at the very same time,” that is the reality that grounds our being and soul. A historical figure in Christianity, St. Catherine of Genoa shouted as she ran through the streets of her town hundreds of years ago, “my deepest me is God!” Oh, to find at the very heart of whom we are and how we live God and God’s presence and love? NOW, that can change a life!

"Immortal Diamond," Take ONE!

 “We would rather be ruined than changed.  We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.”  W.H. Auden

Warning – Steep and Deep Waters ahead – only for the courageous

Richard Rohr’s last published book, Immortal Diamond, has been formative in my heart and life over the past weeks.  As many of you know, I spent much of the Lenten season in 2013 reading and re-reading Rohr’s work.  Over the coming weeks, some of my posts will be reflections on some of the things that made a difference in my life!  I pray you are blessed and encouraged. 

Sometimes our ideas on “who’s in and who’s out” of a journey with Jesus overwhelms the Mystery of who God is and how He reveals Himself in our lives.  We are so determined to be theologically or “religiously” right that we are apt to compartmentalize, exclude and even condemn others because they look, sound or worship differently.  In reality, as Rohr comments in the preface of Immortal Diamond,

“…Many Christians…are forever deepening their personal relationship with a very tiny American Jesus – who looks an awful lot like them.”

What’s Rohr getting at?  He’s saying what many of us are waking up to…that we have created God in our image, with OUR theological prejudices, with OUR observations of duality (who’s in or out, right or wrong), FOR OUR BENEFIT at the expense of the truth.  And, in light of that reality, we have reasoned and justified our excuses for NOT taking the Kingdom of God OR Kingdom ministry/lifestyle seriously.  Many of us have grown too comfortable in our tiny houses of worship, feeling pretty self-satisfied and fairly self righteous while the rest of our community and our relationships can be written off because they do not agree with “me” (or “us”).

Does that sound like a harsh assessment?  Well, it depends…it depends how much patience a person has for what should be or become that which propels our lives, informs our actions, and motivates our intentions no matter what we do – the overwhelming and ALWAYS life-changing and compelling love of God.  The Immortal Diamond is NOT an easy book to read at times.  For me, it is always a challenge to open my mind and heart to that which I seriously never desire to entertain – that being, NEW thoughts and perspectives.  It appears that I’m interested in the Spirit’s voice as long as that voice sounds more like my own affirming my preconceived notions and actions.  Frankly, anything of God that messes up my life is suspicious, though I must admit, necessary.  I say I welcome the winds of the Spirit…I say I invite the Lord to blow freshness into my heart.  I say that I desire to be that “new wineskin” filled with fresh “wine” (see Matthew 9:17ff)…but in reality, the comfortable and the unchallenged in me is simply too resistant to the novelty of God. 

Rohr writes, and this is just in the PREFACE, 

“Something within them (sic) needs to be deeply trusted and many things must be allowed to die – not because they are bad but because they perhaps cannot get them where they want to go.  Spirituality tends to be more about UNLEARNING than learning….many religious people seem to think that God, for some utterly unexplainable reason, loves the human past (usually their own group’s recent past) instead of the present or future of this creation.  As Jaroslav Pelikan so wisely put years ago, ‘Tradition is the living faith of the dead.  Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living, and I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives Tradition such a bad name.”   

I’m not too comfortable with this but I’m so thankful that I'm reading it, asking the Spirit to reveals the truth in the midst of it and allowing that truth to transform my life and heart.  Rohr’s right – our preoccupation with our own pasts always seems to be at the expense of something.  In this case, we affirm our past and, along with that, affirm a misleading suspicion that God does only likes “us” and not “those other” people.  In other words, to use Rohr’s words,

“This preoccupation with the past comes across as a divine approval of everybody else’s death (non-Christians, heretics, “sinners”, etc., etc.) and NEVER OUR OWN (italics mine).” 

All I can say is “ouch.”  You see, HOW WE SEE our lives, our spiritual journey and interaction/connection to the world says EVERYTHING about what we believe about WHO GOD IS.  If we see ourselves especially blessed, then that is at the expense of somebody else missing the boat.  In other words, if God is FOR US, He is definitely against THEM.  In that case, we become self-justified in ignoring that which is outside of our feeling or sense of rightness.  And truly friends, that’s why many faith communities and many Jesus followers are stuck.  Week after week, they make their way to worship experiences and then completely DETACH from reality the rest of the week because God is ONLY on their side…why bother with all the rest of those folks. 

Unfortunately, and I’ll close this devotional here (I think you’ve probably had enough for today), when we come to these conclusions we do so at the ignorance of the power and all-encompassing nature of God’s grace.  The Immoral Diamond says this,

“Grace is what God does to keep all things He has made in love and alive – forever.  Grace is God’s official job description.  Grace is not something God gives; grace is who God is…an unexplainable goodness is at work in the universe.”

It is God’s grace that propels us into action…into joining God’s mission…we don’t do or live mission because we have nothing better to do or because we want more butts in pews, we do it because we are joining God and recognizing that grace is available and already “moving” in every person’s life.   Knowing and experiencing grace is really at the heart of what it means to be a Christ follower.  It is God’s grace that transforms.  Without it, our religious experience is just a social club or a doctrinal system.  What radically changes our lives and our motivations for joining God in mission is grace…pure and simple! 

Three NT Wright radio interview "segments" regarding HIS FABULOUS book, "How God became King"

You really shouldn't miss this!  Here are three radio interview segments where NT Wright is discussing his great book on God's Kingdom, "How God became King."  In addition, the host of the program asks great follow up questions.  This is a must listen...it gives us a great opportunity to learn and grow.  

Hughniverse NT Wright - 1

Hughniverse NT Wright - 2

Hughniverse NT Wright - 3

Interesting...

The World as 100 People infographic by JackHagley.

Quick post...

I think it is interesting though that many of the forms of govt that are being "desired" by people are much more feudalistic than I ever anticipated to see in my lifetime. It sounds like the prevailing winds of politic in the USA is favoring a "cradle to grave" state system of care that is post-modernity's form of Middle Ages feudalism. In feudalism, it was ASSUMED by serfs that the "lord" would provide for them and care for their needs. They, in turn, would serve the lord at his whim...fighting his "battles" and dying in his "wars."  

Interesting, that's some of the tone of the rhetoric I am hearing from those who are promoters of the entitlement state. You see, when the "lord" cares for you it is his fault if things don't turn out your way. There is NO personal responsibility in that system. Freedom, on the other hand, demands personal responsibility. Obviously, one day, if the govt is taking care of "us" they will also demand of "us." That will come later... Actually, Samuel the biblical prophet said the same thing to the people of Israel when they demanded a king. And, for those of you who know the bible, that "prophesy" was realized. That's why I still assert that the "community" hermeneutic of the bible is addressing the "kingdom community" of those within the covenant and NOT that which is assumed will be picked up by a secularistic system. Inherent within a community that serves because God served us is the justice that most of us seek. My reading of the book of Acts, for example, says that people were amazed by the love that was shared and experienced within those early Jesus-followiing communities. That's what made them stand out. People outside those communities knew that the "light of the world" was shining and transforming hearts into just action. Within covenant the follower of God seeks to actualize the full reign of God. To assume that we can "impose" actions on secular society that are synonymous with Kingdom living "ain't" going to work...it is too naive when it comes to the base narcissism that drives those outside the transformative nature of God's covenant!

Take a listen to what Mike Breen says about Feudalism...he is comparing it to church structure...but it fits for government too!

Workshop Teaching #2 | Spiritual Feudalism | Mike Breen from 3DM on Vimeo.