"The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ . . .In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God's thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills. Progressively, we are taught to see things from his point of view." --Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
On Sunday we considered the story told in Mark 1:29-39. It is a powerful "prayer story!"
The scene is placed at the outset of Jesus' ministry in Galilee. Shortly after he has liberated the man in the Capernaum synagogue from the horrible burden of others' expectations, Jesus enters the home of Simon and Andrew's family. Responding to the condition of Simon's suffering mother-in- law, he "comes and takes her by the hand and lifts her up." She is freed to serve. Word travels quickly, and soon "the whole city" gathers at the door in anticipation of more wonders. Many people who are sick and those "possessed by demons" are brought to him; Jesus heals the sick (therapeuo) and the demons he "casts out" or "expells."
We identified "demons" as forms of bondage that people labor under: labels fixed on people; dehumanization; trauma; exclusion; enslavement of various forms; blindness to one's own beauty. Jesus casts out the "unclean spirits" that distort the divine image in each of us. "He healed many . . ." We imagined him caring for people late into the night.
Here is where the narrative takes a most profound turn. Jesus rises in the morning before anyone else and goes out to a deserted place to pray. Before long Simon and the others "hunt him down": "Where have you been? Everyone is looking for you. There are still alot of people outside the house!" Jesus speaks with great clarity: "Let us go on into the neighboring towns, that I may preach there also; for this is why I came forth." Acting in freedom and with great intention, Jesus leads them away from the demands of Capernaum and deeper into the mission field. We noted that Jesus' actions were not defined or prescribed by people's expectations or demands. And while his compassion for all is clear, the ministry of individual healing is not his primary task. Rather, he has come to proclaim the good news of the gospel everywhere he is able go. His Living Word will confront demons and suffering everywhere with the good news of God's love. This leads us to reflect a bit on our own expectations of Jesus, and how our expectations may divirge from the saving mission Jesus embodies.
I believe that Jesus' clarity of purpose, and his ability to lead his disciples assertively in fulfilling God's calling, flow forth from his prayer life.
Read again the words of Richard Foster printed above, and picture Jesus in the early morning quiet being centered and strengthened in prayer. I wonder what his prayer sounds like, if he says much at all, or if he primarily receives. Even when the others "hunt him down (Greek translation)," he is not anxious or re-active.
I am reminded of Jimmy Forbes' description of Jesus: "I like his freedom to be himself. I like his freedom to be for others. I like his capacity to keep faith with his own sense of who he is and with the destiny he believes he is called to fulfill." I would add: In Jesus daily prayer life, that freedom is renewed, that faith grows, that sense of identity and purpose is not only affirmed but clarified, the vision of God's purpose for the whole world deepens and is textured!
Let's take some time to reflect on and discuss the role of prayer in each of our lives.
"I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer."--Martin Luther
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Notes From Session #3
After an abundant lunch (Thanks, Pete and Tina!), we began by reading together the prayer "The Deepest Wonder of All." We all received a notebook page containing the blog comments so far, with particular attention to Wendy's invitation to discussion on loving Jesus with our minds. In particular, her comments "When I think of mind, I think of logic; When I think of love, I think of emotions" led us to further reflection.
This stimulated the observation that Jesus' way of living and being is not "logical" in our cultural, worldly sense. He teaches so many things that are at odds with our traditional wisdom. Jesus offers a different way of seeing, hearing, experiencing, understanding, and loving. To enter into that "Way" is the journey of discipleship and the experience of "new life." To be understood, heard, seen, accepted, and respected is for many people the firstfruits of the experience of salvation. To be saved from loneliness and isolation is indeed heavenly.
On one hand it was suggested that Jesus' way is not that simple. From another prespective, however, what he teaches can be disarmingly simple. For instance, when he commands us to love our enemies and adversaries (he loves them!), it is quite clear that one cannot love another person while killing, dismissing, or dehumanizing them. In following Jesus, being clear about what we cannot do if we are faithful leads us necessarily to different choices than we have made in the past. This can be quite freeing and illuminating. In the same vein, human beings constantly fight wars while professing to seek peace, which is a bit like practicing promiscuity in order to promote abstinence. When Jesus strips away our illusions, we can see how ridiculous and destructive some of our "normal" ways have been. But he always offers different, life-giving paths--we are never left to ourselves.
Jesus kind of love, agape, focuses initially not on what we feel but on what we do. "Do something different, and over time you will begin to feel differently." "Do love, and the feelings will follow."
It was noted that our constant human striving distorts our relationships with one another and our ability to perceive the gospel clearly. Jesus offers us the opportunity to see with his eyes, hear with his ears, think with his mind.
The scriptural text we focused on was Mark 8:27-38. At the midpoint, the pivotal point, in Mark's narrative, Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" He then offers a more particular question, "But who do you say that I am?" We began to reflect on some of the differences between (1)what other people have told us about Jesus, and (2) our own experience and understanding of Jesus. In the story, Peter gives the correct written answer--"The Messiah"--but then goes on to demonstrate that he has no real idea what that means. When Jesus identifies himself as "the Son of Man (The Human One or True Human)" and says that he must embody agape love while confronting the dark heart of violence, trusting that God's love is indeed a greater power than might and that resurrection will be realized, Peter berates Jesus as not being the kind of Messiah Peter has been waiting for. Jesus had better get his head right! This is when Jesus startles Peter by identfying him with the Tempter and Accuser, and shows Peter that Peter's mind is still captive to the world's striving. It is Peter who can let go of that life and receive the new life. The world is being turned upside-down; or to God, right-side up! In Mark 9:1, when Jesus says that some of those present will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power, Jesus is saying that they will see Jesus confront violence with God's love, and what looks to the world like defeat will become victory in the resurrection.
This led to a powerful connection with last week's sermon: this is why Jesus replaced "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might," instead teaching: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." For the disciple, might is replaced with the mind of Jesus!
We concluded by revisiting who we say that Jesus is. Contributions included:
Messiah
Family
Friend
Community
Savior
Selfless One
Loving One
Teacher
Learner
Each of us is challenged to compose a clear statement of how those identities of Jesus become real for us in our lives.
We concluded with hands joined in prayer.
This stimulated the observation that Jesus' way of living and being is not "logical" in our cultural, worldly sense. He teaches so many things that are at odds with our traditional wisdom. Jesus offers a different way of seeing, hearing, experiencing, understanding, and loving. To enter into that "Way" is the journey of discipleship and the experience of "new life." To be understood, heard, seen, accepted, and respected is for many people the firstfruits of the experience of salvation. To be saved from loneliness and isolation is indeed heavenly.
On one hand it was suggested that Jesus' way is not that simple. From another prespective, however, what he teaches can be disarmingly simple. For instance, when he commands us to love our enemies and adversaries (he loves them!), it is quite clear that one cannot love another person while killing, dismissing, or dehumanizing them. In following Jesus, being clear about what we cannot do if we are faithful leads us necessarily to different choices than we have made in the past. This can be quite freeing and illuminating. In the same vein, human beings constantly fight wars while professing to seek peace, which is a bit like practicing promiscuity in order to promote abstinence. When Jesus strips away our illusions, we can see how ridiculous and destructive some of our "normal" ways have been. But he always offers different, life-giving paths--we are never left to ourselves.
Jesus kind of love, agape, focuses initially not on what we feel but on what we do. "Do something different, and over time you will begin to feel differently." "Do love, and the feelings will follow."
It was noted that our constant human striving distorts our relationships with one another and our ability to perceive the gospel clearly. Jesus offers us the opportunity to see with his eyes, hear with his ears, think with his mind.
The scriptural text we focused on was Mark 8:27-38. At the midpoint, the pivotal point, in Mark's narrative, Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" He then offers a more particular question, "But who do you say that I am?" We began to reflect on some of the differences between (1)what other people have told us about Jesus, and (2) our own experience and understanding of Jesus. In the story, Peter gives the correct written answer--"The Messiah"--but then goes on to demonstrate that he has no real idea what that means. When Jesus identifies himself as "the Son of Man (The Human One or True Human)" and says that he must embody agape love while confronting the dark heart of violence, trusting that God's love is indeed a greater power than might and that resurrection will be realized, Peter berates Jesus as not being the kind of Messiah Peter has been waiting for. Jesus had better get his head right! This is when Jesus startles Peter by identfying him with the Tempter and Accuser, and shows Peter that Peter's mind is still captive to the world's striving. It is Peter who can let go of that life and receive the new life. The world is being turned upside-down; or to God, right-side up! In Mark 9:1, when Jesus says that some of those present will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power, Jesus is saying that they will see Jesus confront violence with God's love, and what looks to the world like defeat will become victory in the resurrection.
This led to a powerful connection with last week's sermon: this is why Jesus replaced "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might," instead teaching: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." For the disciple, might is replaced with the mind of Jesus!
We concluded by revisiting who we say that Jesus is. Contributions included:
Messiah
Family
Friend
Community
Savior
Selfless One
Loving One
Teacher
Learner
Each of us is challenged to compose a clear statement of how those identities of Jesus become real for us in our lives.
We concluded with hands joined in prayer.
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