LifeLog - 12.13.05 - Ordinary People Becoming Royalty

Christmas; the celebration of the birth of Christ. A celebration under siege, these days, by a growing force of secularists, bent on removing anything Christian from public life. (I’ve referenced Christianity rather than religion in general because there is a definite disparity, in the secularist crusade, between the treatment of things Christian and those of other religions.) A celebration that will continue around the world because of the perennially growing numbers of people for whom Jesus really is “hope.”

Perhaps the greatest Christmas selection in all of Christian Scripture is one found in a letter from St. Paul to the followers of Jesus in a Roman Province, Galatia. It’s a simple statement. Its implications are profound. “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (See Galatians 4:4 & 5.) This is what Christmas is all about. In “the fullness of time” – humanity’s defining moment – God “sent his Son” – the Divine and human re-united – “born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the rights of sons” – that humans might participate in the Divine.

“Born under the law.”

What does this mean? Obviously, since it’s written by St. Paul, himself a Jew, it is a reference to Jewish law. It implies that Jesus was born into a community where such laws were important; where he was expected to live by those precepts. And so he was. By the time he was eight days old it was very apparent that his home life would be defined by Jewish law. St. Luke tells us that, “When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons. … When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.” (See Luke 2:22 – 39.) You can see, from the repeated references to “law,” in this brief summary of that eighth day in his life that Jesus was in a home where the “Law of the Lord” would be kept. When he was 12 years of age a further series of events illustrates, even more pointedly, the place that “the law,” would have in his life. Luke tells about these events in this same second chapter. (See Luke 2: 41 – 50.) He first explains that Jesus parents customarily went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. He specifically notes that, when Jesus was twelve, they went to Jerusalem for Passover, “according to the custom.” What was so special about this trip to celebrate Passover? Was it the experience Jesus had with the religious leaders in Jerusalem? Was it the anxiety his parents suffered when the feared they’d lost him? Perhaps his age and traditions that surrounded young men of that age made this visit special. Some students of the Bible suggest that, at least symbolically, this visit to Jerusalem became, if it wasn’t intended to be, his “bar Mitzvah.” Aramaic for “son of the commandment,” the ceremony surrounding a Jewish boy’s becoming a mature keeper of “the commandments,” “the law,” is known as his “bar mitzvah.” While custom specifies the age of 13 as the time for this rite, there is Rabbinic tradition allowing it be observed one, even two years before the boy’s 13th Birthday. The celebration of this “coming of age,” is marked by ceremonies in which the young male is initiated into the religious community, … and performs his first act as an adult, saying the blessing for the reading, in the synagogue, of part of the weekly portion of the Torah, or, more traditionally, performing the actual reading.” The performance of this solemn duty established that, from then on, the boy was a man; a “son of the commandment.” The “law” and his adherence to it were now his responsibility. Was Jesus conversation with the “teachers” during this visit to Jerusalem his official “coming out”? Granted most of what characterizes the modern “bar Mitzvah” has developed since the Middle Ages. Still one thing is certain. Jesus, at the age considered to be the time when a boy became a man, had become so immersed in the traditions and “commandments” governing Jewish life in his day that “everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” He had become a true “son of the commandment.” And for him it was more than just a matter of the head. When the confusion and misunderstanding that surrounded his separation from his parents had settled, Luke tells us, he “went home to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” He was shaped by the “law.” It became a matter of his heart as well. As a result he, “grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men.” (See Luke 2:52.) The law of God, and parents guided by that law, formed Jesus into a healthy, wise, likable man who brought pleasure to the Lord; someone he discovered, through those same sacred writings, to be his Father. And his life was daily elevated to an unparalleled level of excellence as he lived out these principles of his Father.

When Jesus left home to begin a more public life his very first decision demonstrated that these principles would continue to be the foundation of his life. This decision also revealed new things about the nature of the “law” under which he would live the rest of his life. He went to meet his cousin John the Baptist. While with John, Jesus asked to be baptized. John was astounded at his request. He knew that Jesus was the one he had been appointed to prepare people for. John insisted that if any baptism was to take place he was the one who needed it not Jesus. “I,” he said, “need to be baptized by you.” (See Matthew 3:14.) Jesus response is most revealing. John had to baptize him. It was, he said, “necessary to fulfill all righteousness.” The “righteousness” he was talking about was a quality of life that “fit” in God’s world. John’s message to the people coming out to the desert to hear him and be baptized, was, quite simply, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (See Matthew 3:2.) The rule of God is becoming personal. Prepare for his coming by changing your mind and subjecting your will to God’s. His baptism was a symbol of that change of mind and heart. Jesus decision to submit to John’s baptism was a declaration of submission to the ways and will of the King of the kingdom of heaven. The would be King was, himself, submitting deliberately to the principles of his own kingdom. In doing so he was “fulfilling” the “righteousness” of God. Furthermore he was leading all humanity on a path of elevated living that would “make sense” of their existence. And God was pleased with him. He said so. When Jesus was being baptized God spoke. “This is my Son, my beloved. He brings me great pleasure!” (See Matthew 3:17.) With this affirmation, and in the strength of the Spirit of God, Jesus began the final stage of his life. Over a grueling 40 days of intense, personal, spiritual discipline he engaged the devil in a battle of mind and will. Again and again he invoked the “Word of God,” – the “law;” what was “written” – and resolved to be lead by no other principle than that of the “Lord,” his “God,” and “Father.” (See Matthew 4:4 – 10.) When he preached his message was the same as John’s. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (See Matthew 4:17.) He offered, in this call, a revolution of mind and heart to his listeners. He introduced a radically new possibility that human minds and wills could be elevated to the mind and will of God himself. “I did not come to destroy the law,” he insisted. I came to “fulfill it.” He came to live the life the law prescribes. He came to elevate ordinary people to a life like his own.

Here we discover the meaning of St. Paul’s insistence, in Galatians 4:4, that God’s “Son,” was “born under the law, to redeem those under the law … .” To redeem someone is to buy their freedom. It is about deliverance. Jesus declared this to be part of his mission when he took the mission statement of Isaiah – Isaiah 61: 1, 2 – and made it his own. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,” he said. “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners … .” (See Luke 4:18.) The “law” had become oppressive by the time Jesus came. Though its principles were, for him, the guide to an elevated existence – the first “Psalm 1 man” – it had been abused. Like every other “good” thing God provides the “law” can be used for evil. Jesus explained how this had happened by showing that the “righteousness” of God was a way of life superior even to that of the “Pharisees and teachers of the law.” ( See Matthew 5:20.) These “Pharisees and teachers” were, at first glance, good people. In fact they were people who could truthfully claim to be living “blamelessly.” By every acceptable standard of the day they were living according to the “law” as they’d interpreted it. Anyone hearing Jesus say that they must be more “righteous” than such people must have thought, “How is it possible to live better than them?” Dallas Willard, in his book, The Divine Conspiracy, pgs. 166 & 168, responds. Jesus, he notes, was identifying the “typically Pharisaical mistake of trying to control the act instead of changing the source … .” In “contrast,” he writes, “the goodness of the kingdom heart … is the positive love of God and of those around us, which fills it and crowds out the many forms of evil. From that goodness come deeds of respect and purity that characterize (all loves as they were) meant by God to be.” The “pharisaical mistake” had made the Judaism of Jesus day an oppressively legalistic society. And Jesus condemned them emphatically. “Woe to you teachers of the law, Pharisees,” he declared, “You travel over sea and land to make one convert. When he is converted to your way of life he is twice the child of hell that you are.” (See Matthew 23:15.) Jesus knew and preached that wherever the “law” is prescribed apart from the deeper need for a changed heart oppression will follow. When someone asked him to clarify the intent of the “law,” Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (See Matthew 22:34; Mark 12:28; Luke 10:25.) While every Pharisee and Teacher of the law who heard him say this recognized it as directly from their “law” (See Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.) they had failed to “get it.” And so their interpretation and practice of it became oppressive and legalistic. Still Jesus pressed continuously for an understanding and application of the law that looked beyond what he called the “letter” or legal aspects of it to the “spirit,” the heart of it. As I heard someone say a long time ago, “for Jesus the ‘law’ was not about ‘religion’ but about a ‘relationship.’” To “get” this is to experience the liberation St. Paul says Christ came to provide for us. As Jesus Spirit changes our hearts and empowers us to love we become elevated to the sort of person he is.

In a rather lengthy conversation with his friends, the night before he was crucified, Jesus explained the relationship between “law” and “love” to them. The conversation is recorded by St. John in chapters 13 to 17. Particularly in chapters 14 & 15 the connection becomes very clear. Jesus says, in chapter 14, verse 15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Human as we are, our first inclination is to hear this as conditional. Doing what “I command,” proves you love me. Jesus intended it to be confirmational. Your love for me will express itself in heartfelt desire to please me. The love comes first. It is a gift of God not a contrivance of our will. And, when that gift is present, people will do what pleases their Lord. They will “obey.” When it happens it will spring so naturally out of their changed hearts that they’ll be as surprised and pleased by it as any observer would be. So, love is the critical matter here. “Law,” is, for Jesus, a matter of the heart as much as it’s a matter of the head. Willard said, in the earlier quote, “the goodness of the kingdom heart … is the positive love of God and of those around us that fills it and crowds out the many forms of evil.” Now notice that earlier in chapter 14 Jesus had already made this point that obedience follows love. There he tells us that something more follows. “My Father will love (you), and we will come to (you) and make our home with (you).” Even earlier in chapter 14 he had said that the “Counselor,” … “the Spirit of truth,” would come and “live with you and … in you.” This is profound. He is teaching that God will live in us. Back in chapter 15 verse 9 he urges his friends, and now us, to “remain” in his love. I prefer the MESSAGE interpretation of the word “remain.” “Make yourselves at home in my love.” Do you get the relational tone of all of this. Making oneself “at home” with someone is intimate and personal. Loving them you want to please them. So you make every effort to know them and understand what pleases them. You look for information that will help you do so. And the more you do for them the stronger your love for them grows. This is Jesus path to redemption and the intimacy with God that he enjoyed. Once more – follow the sequence – Love, a quality produced by the Spirit who has come to live in us, inspires obedience; the Spirit of God also provides guidance and aid to empower our obedience; his influence produces both the love and the obedience which grow out of genuine love; Jesus and the Father respond to this growing love and the desire to please by coming to make their home with us; as we “make ourselves at home” with them we discover that we are becoming more and more like them. Why not? They’ve not only made their home in us. They’ve adopted us. We are “sons” and “daughters” of God. Furthermore, we’ve been “redeemed” – “liberated.” We are now beginning to experience what St. Paul describes as the “glorious freedom of the children of God.” (See Romans 8:21.) Children are heirs. The possibilities are now endless! We are royalty. And each day that we live with God we are being elevated to a way of living that appears more and more like Jesus lifestyle.

This is the Christmas story in a nutshell! The Son of God came down to where we are, lived our life the way it was designed to be lived even though it cost him his own, and, in the process, set us free to be sons of God too. Because he came we are now, though human, becoming Divine. I have never read a more vivid; more moving word picture of this than what C.S. Lewis wrote in Miracles. “In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and seabed of the Nature He has created. He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders. Or one may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the death-like region of ooze and slime and old decay; then up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting, till suddenly he breaks surface again, holding in his hand he dripping, precious thing that he went down to recover. He and it are both colored now that they have come up into the light: down below, where it lay colorless in the dark, he lost his color too.”

We are now, as Lewis further notes, in Mere Christianity, Book 4, chapter 7, “begin(ning) to see what the New Testament is always talking about … being ‘born again’ … ‘putting on Christ’ … Christ ‘being formed in us’ … .” We are discovering “that a real person, Christ, here and now, … is doing things to (us). … a living Man, still as much a man as you (and me), and still as much God as he was when he created the world, really coming and interfering with (our) very self; killing the old natural self … replacing it with the kind of self He has. At first, only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally, if all goes well, turning us permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity.”

LifeLog - 12.07.05 - God Becomes a Man

LifeLog – 12.07.05 – God Becomes a Man

“When the time had fully come,” – humanity’s defining moment – “God sent his Son, born of a woman … .”

“Born of a woman.”

At first you’re inclined to gloss over the phrase as you would a statement of the obvious. Aren’t we all? Born of a woman that is. But if we’ll pause for a moment to think about it the dramatic implications will hit us.

“God sent his Son, born of a woman.” Which comes first, “sent his Son,” or “born of a woman?” Is there a problem? Possibly there isn’t. We say related things often. “Joe Davis hired Bill Dawson, Harry’s Son.” So, it could be argued, all St Paul is telling us is that, “God sent his Son, Mary’s child.” The problem with the argument is that Paul didn’t say, “born to Mary.” He knew Mary. Why didn’t he acknowledge her? Because the relationship of “his Son,” to "woman" is the most important point here. “(H)is Son,” precedes “born of a woman.” St. John begins his biography of Jesus with the statement, “In the beginning was the Word.” (Before we’ve read very far into John’s biography we learn that “the Word,” is Jesus.) Jesus was “in the beginning”? The answer follows. “The Word was with God and the Word was God.” God’s Son, Christians believe, existed before he was “born of a woman.” He is the Second Person of the Trinity.” He is, his followers also believe, the Creator. He is the Word God spoke in every phase of Creation. With this understanding the idea implicit in the statement “born of a woman,” becomes, to many, preposterous. A pre-existent person – as distinct from a pre-existent spirit – was, at “humanity’s defining moment,” “born of a woman.” C.S. Lewis vividly describes what took place. In his work, Mere Christianity, Book IV, Chapter 5, he writes, “The Second Person in God, the Son, became human himself: was born into the world as an actual man – a real man of a particular height, with hair of a particular color, speaking a particular language, weighing so many pounds. The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a fetus inside a woman’s body.”

“How could this be?” we ask. That was Mary’s question to the angel messenger who was promising that she was to be the “woman” who would bear God’s Son. “How will this be since I am a virgin?” The angel messenger’s answer, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” recalled the imagery of Creation. The same “Spirit of God” who “brooded over the abyss,” bringing life out of nothing would bring life to her womb. Lewis is once again insightful. In another work, Miracles, Chapter 14, pg. 142, he is speaking of what he calls a “normal act of generation,” a “momentum” which is the ongoing flow of things in the reproduction of life. He writes, “If we believe that God created Nature that momentum comes from Him. The human father is merely an instrument, a carrier … in a long line of carriers – a line that stretches back far beyond his ancestors into pre-human and pre-organic deserts of time, back to the creation of matter itself. That line is in God’s hand. It is the instrument by which He normally creates a man. For He is the reality behind both Genius – the Male in ancient mythology – and Venus – ancient mythology’s fertility goddess – no woman ever conceived a child, no mare a foal without Him. But once, and for a special purpose He dispensed with that long line which is His instrument; once His life-giving finger touched a woman without passing through the ages of interlocked events. Once the great glove of Nature was taken off His hand. His naked hand touched her. … That time he was creating not simply a man but the Man who was to be Himself: was creating Man anew: was beginning, at this divine and human point the New Creation of all things.” The “Son,” who is the “Word,” who is “in the beginning,” the Creator of all things; entered a woman and, in union with an ovum, became the embryonic form of the “Son of the Most High.” “Zoe,” and “bios” – terms Lewis uses to distinguish the “spiritual, heavenly/timeless,” life from the “temporal, time/space” life – unite in embryonic form in Mary’s womb and the “Son” becomes a “man.”

On the night of his birth the angel messenger told shepherds, the child “is Christ the Lord.” “Christ,” – Messiah, the “anointed,” the consummate man. “The Lord,” – the name reverent Jews used for God – the Sovereign God. Man and God; infinitely distinct and separate beings. But, in this Child, united; one: blasphemous to the religionists of his and every age, but luminous to those who hope for God’s personal intervention in human events. In prophecy and during his life he was given many other names: “Emmanuel,” “Son of God,” “Son of Man,” “Prince of Peace,” “Man of sorrows,” “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Servant.”. In every case traces of the Divine and human blended and defined his unique person. He was and is the Supreme Sovereign. He was and is the Son of Man; the consummate human. As he grew and assumed the mission for which he had come his sovereignty was apparent in the authority of his teaching. That same authority was demonstrated in his mastery of nature; commanding wind and waves, demons and disease; creating in a moment bread and wine which, year after year, he’d been creating, each in its season, since the beginning of time. His humanity played out in his suffering. Called the “man of sorrows,” he “learned obedience,” we are told, “through the things that he suffered.” (See Hebrews 5:8.) Mysteriously it is his suffering that makes “hope” certain. “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies,” Jesus said, “it remains a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds.” In his dieing and rising again he forever unmasks death revealing the plan, made before time, to bring out of the apparent demise of our race in death, the resurrection and new life that only he, “life” itself could accomplish.

For our purposes now it is his humanity that is “center stage.” This God/Man was “born of a woman.” In that same letter to First Century Hebrew Christians the significance of his human mother is explained. “Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior – their rescuer – took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.
It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.” (See Hebrews 2:14 – 18.)

Out of human beginnings – “all the pain, all the testing" – this Son brings many sons back to their God and to a relationship in which the two, once again, become united. The Divine descends all the way to humanity’s lowest point – where we are – and dies so that we humans may ascend to the Divine.

Sometimes the meaning of such things can be experienced in fanciful stories kids like to hear over and over again. One such story, The Velveteen Rabbit, provides a glimpse of what it costs to give oneself to another for the other’s sake.


“The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

“What is REAL?” asked the rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery wall, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are REAL you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are REAL most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are REAL you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

The time came when the Velveteen Rabbit was given to the boy for a night. He became the boy’s chosen companion. Everything happened just as the Skin Horse said it would. “The little Rabbit grew very old and shabby.” His whiskers were rubbed off. The “pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit anymore.” Then the unimaginable happened. The boy became very ill. The Rabbit, infected by the germs was thrown on a trash heap to be burned. That night as he was lying among the discards he wondered, “Of what use was it to … lose one’s beauty … if it all ended like this? And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.” With that tear a miracle began and before the night was over the Velveteen Rabbit became truly “REAL”!

Hundreds of years before Jesus birth a Jewish Prophet, Isaiah, wrote about the suffering Servant who would be Israel’s hope. The imagery is a vivid portrayal of what being “born of a woman,” becoming human, would mean to “Christ.”

“There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. … He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter … as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized that he was dying for their sins—that he was suffering their punishment? He had done no wrong, and he never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.
But it was the LORD’S good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’S plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. … because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death.” (See Isaiah 53: 2 – 12.)

LifeLog – 12.02.05 – Humanity’s Defining Moment

What is the defining moment of your life?

What event most impacted the course of your life? Was it a personal encounter? Was it a life-changing experience? Is there a “watershed moment” you remember and can point to as that moment when your life began to be what it is today? Can you identify that distinct point to which all the streams of your life flowed and from which much that you experience now flows: that place on your life’s timeline where significant experiences culminated and new ones commenced?

To listen to many “Extreme Makeover” subjects this was their “defining moment." Repeatedly I hear them say, “It’s everything I ever dreamed of!” “I’ll never be the same again!”

Christians believe that Christmas is humanity’s defining moment. (Saying this I’m assuming the inseparable connection between Christmas and Easter.) There are many places in the Bible where you can find this belief expressed. One of them is in a letter St. Paul wrote to Christians in the Roman Province of Galatia. He states, “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son … .” (See Galatians 4:4.)

“When the time had fully come … .” What does that mean? Was there a specific time God declared to be the exact moment when he would send his Son? What would distinguish that moment from all others? Would it be that point in time when a certain number of people had been created? Did something have to take place first? Would deteriorating conditions sound the alarm? Could it be that the period in history known as the “PAX ROMANA,” – the “Roman Peace” during which, in fact, Jesus was born, when Rome ruled a vast Empire with previously unparalleled efficiency - really was the moment of greatest opportunity? Or was it simply a strategic moment in the history of God’s chosen people the Jews? Certainly there are reasons to believe that one or another or several of these conditions could have played a part in the determining of that “moment.” But finally, simply, this “time” became “humanity’s defining moment” because it was “God’s time.” To speculate about what else could made this moment distinct is futile. “When the time had fully come, GOD … .” The “eternal” – timeless – God stepped into time and everything was changed forever. It was a “watershed moment.” We would quickly learn that all the event streams of the past flowed into this moment. And we are learning that the significant future emanates largely from that Divine act. Always, when God defines a moment by “Divine Fiat,” – sovereign action – it is monumental. It is a “defining moment;” a moment in which some things culminate and other things commence. His “timelessness,” interfacing with “time,” is in itself, iconoclastic. The very essence of our environment is turned right side up. The phrase, “when the time had fully come,” could, quite accurately be translated, “when time was completed,” or “when time was finished.” When God sent his Divine Son into time the eternal and the temporal clashed. So Jesus could very seriously suggest that we not “worry about tomorrow,” (Matthew 6:34) In his “eternal – i.e. – timeless - kingdom,” today and tomorrow are one and the same. God is “Alpha and Omega,” he is “the beginning and the end” and everything in between. On one occasion, when Jesus met demon-possessed men, their reaction was most telling. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” These devils did not know the future. What they did know was that their time was relative; that it was, at best, doomed to come to an end. They further knew that the “Son of God,” was the one who would determine the time of their end.

Repeatedly throughout the Bible the impact of God’s timeless Kingdom on the time/space world is recognized. What goes on in the “Kingdom of Heaven,” has major significance here. During the rule of Hezekiah King of Judah, the prophet Isaiah was sent with a message to Sennacherib, a powerful and pompous Assyrian king, who had conquered all the cities of Judah and was threatening Jerusalem. This was the message.

“Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.”
(Isaiah 37:26)

God’s sovereignty is never in jeopardy. The power of kings, even evil tyrants, exists only because God determines they should have it. Furthermore, all the grand schemes and strategies they devise have been “ordained – decreed” by God “long ago,” “planned” “in days of old.” The timeless kingdom determines what takes place in the “kingdoms of this world” of time and space. In the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, verse eight Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” His friend Peter says, of him, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” (1 Peter 11:20) St. Paul picks up this theme twice. He’s writing to his protégé Titus. In the letter he speaks about his mission. He describes it as being “for … a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time … .” (Titus 1:1 & 2) To another protégé he writes, “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus … .” (2 Timothy 1:9) Peter remembers a day when he, James, and John saw Jesus in his Divine splendor: “… we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16 – 18) He and his colleagues saw the eternal and time/space intersect. If you read Luke’s account of the event you’ll see that two men, Moses, and Elijah, now living in the real, unseen, eternal kingdom, appeared and talked with Jesus about the completion of his work in Jerusalem as if it were a present reality.
The “Kingdom of God;” “the Kingdom of the heavens;” has come among us in Jesus and time is forever altered. For those who receive Him as their King their time/space life is increasingly drawn up into the timeless; into the “range of God’s effective will.;” “where what he wants done is done.” (This process is extensively discussed in Dallas Willard’s, The Divine Conspiracy.) Before the creation of the world, before the beginning of time this moment we’re contemplating was and now, by an act of the Supreme Sovereign, is – is forever – the “defining moment” for all humanity.

Christmas is our defining moment. When Jesus was born the “sacrifice” - the “lamb slain before the creation of the world,” the consummate “lamb” that gave merit to all other lambs offered for the sin of God’s people - was made. The Christmas manger would become Friday’s cross. All that separated us from the timeless Kingdom, for which we’d been destined from the beginning, would be atoned for. The redeemer, that was chosen before time, was revealed “for our sake” that first Christmas night. The “Eternal life” God intended for us was provided then. “Grace,” that astonishing and immeasurable favor God extends to us, is revealed in the manger, in Bethlehem. Later glimpses of Jesus’ “splendor,” and “majesty,” are glimpses of what we are destined to become. The “voice” of God from the “Majestic Glory,” is an awe-inspiring encounter with an infinite grandeur. It is, at the same time, an endearing glimpse of the profound intimacy that exists between Father and Son. We know, because we’ve seen it, that this is the environment which we are destined to live in forever. Humans, who’ve become celestial beings, conversing about events, which are yet to be in the time/space world, as if they were present realities, remind us that decisions which really matter are being made in a “self-sufficing community of unspeakably magnificent personal beings of boundless love, knowledge, and power.” Dallas Willard writes about this “self-sufficing community” in which we live and move and have our being, in The Divine Conspiracy. I recently wrote about the growing impact of this idea on my understanding of God’s influence in my own life. (See LifeLog – 11.27.05 – Thanksgiving.) Now we’re considering a new, expanded dimension. Humans, who’ve become celestial beings, are insiders in this Community. Jesus taught it would be this way. He said that when the Holy Spirit was given to us he would be “with us,” even “in us.” He said that those who love him will passionately pursue a relationship with him that empowers them to live their lives “as he would if he were them.” And he promised that he and the Father would respond by coming to “make (their) home” with them. Jesus taught these things to his followers. One of his followers, St. Paul, wrote about them. He said that this intimate Divine/Human partnership is part of the timeless plan for us. We are, he said, “being built together to become a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” This is “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed.” What is that mystery? It is “Christ in us;” now and since before time, “the hope of glory.” God's purpose, which he has always known, is to bring us into himself so that, as Jesus prayed, “we may be one” as he and the Father are one, and that we “may be one” in them. (The biblical references to Jesus teaching on this Divine/Human union, which I have used here, are John 14:17, 14:23, 17:21; Ephesians 2:22; and Colossians 1:26 & 27.)We know all of these things because Jesus was born. It’s “everything we ever dreamed of; more than we ever dreamed of; beyond what we’d have ever even thought of dreaming!” “We will never be the same again!” This is our watershed moment. All that has taken place, in time and beyond, flows to this point. All that will ever be flows from here. The culmination of the human event is reached in Christ. With the new birth which he inaugurates, a radically new, timeless existence begins. WE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!

LifeLog - 11.27.05 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Weekend, 2005 …

What am I thankful for?

Thanksgiving Day our oldest Grandchild, Marissa, easily composed a rather long list, mostly of people she is thankful for. The list was impressively extensive. She included her Parents; both sets of Grandparents; the ones in America, and Norway; siblings; Jesus; Friends. She included her bed. I was especially pleased to see that she’d included books. More impressive, to me, than the list was the skill with which she wrote. For a first-grader the composition and penmanship was quite advanced. Very possibly among the finest pieces of writing ever created by a Child her age. But then what should I expect from Shirley’s and my Granddaughter?! I haven’t gotten the patent yet but the bumper sticker will catch on. I’m sure. “My Granddaughter is a budding Pulitzer Prize recipient.”

All kidding aside: I thank God for the foundations that are being laid by our Children for their Kids! This is one of many reasons I have to be thankful this year.

Now, I do not want to be disingenuous. There have been many difficult adjustments for us in recent years and more have come this year. Some days we are not sure whether the material stuff of our lives will survive ‘til sunset. Still there’s a lot of evidence that our Lord has not lost sight of us. He has certainly not removed all the props and provisions he’s promised.

Above all that we’ve enjoyed this year stands the birth of our seventh Grandchild. Kaleb Josiah Denison, the third Son of our eldest Jim, and his Wife Korenne, was born on September 21, 2005. Shirley and I were privileged to be in England, when he was born; and share the euphoria that accompanies so great a miracle! There is more about our days in England in LifeLog – 10.12.05 – Family Time. There are recent pictures of Kaleb at
http://jimandshirley67.photosite.com/JimDenisonJrFamily/

Remembering Kaleb’s birth got me reminiscing about the other six. Marissa, our first, is now six years old. Her Mom and Dad are Ingvild and Jason, our youngest Son. She is bright and very observant. She loves to read and can carry on an adult conversation. She’s a bit shy when you first meet her but will talk your ear off once she’s comfortable with you. She’s lovely. She’s athletic despite the developmental awkwardness that sometimes goes with being a six year old. She is very sensitive; definitely a surrogate Mom to her Sister and Brother. Speaking of her Sister, Madeleine: this little girl is a most social and complex four year old. She is quite gregarious. She’ll tell you elaborately plotted stories; sing you songs she composes as she sings; and draw you into a web of emotion that is really quite endearing despite its fragility. Her Father and Mother will, occasionally, describe life with Maddie as “drama.” She will sometimes describe herself, in her fantasies, as a Princess. For me she is just that! On the other hand, her Brother is the diametrical opposite. Ethan is just over a year and a half old. He is blond, with an olive complexion and the look of a true “California Boy.” I can even see him on the cover of some surfing magazine in 14 or 15 years. He’s an accident waiting to happen. There appears to be nothing he won’t try. And frequently, already, he has been rushed to “Emergency” because of what he’s tried. This Thanksgiving Weekend – Friday – he was playing the drums and took a nose dive into the rim of one of them ending up with a plethora of stitches over his eye. His Mom assures us that life with him is a completely different experience from that with his Sisters. So much for gender neutrality. Kaleb’s Brothers are no exception. Samuel, four, is active, gregarious, very opinionated and runs with endless energy. He too is very sensitive and is forever trying to take on the care – and the cares – of his Younger Brother. Samuel is so expressive. Like Marissa he will carry on an adult conversation drawing you in with facial expressions, gestures, even tonal inflections. I walked with him to School several times while in their home and found the conversation and play so much fun! I learned about his friends. I discovered what “conkers” were and enjoyed helping him build a collection for autumn. His Brother, Evan, is a sturdy two year old almost as big as his older Brother. Evan is the “strong silent type.” He’s a bit like Ethan with an adventurous streak. He’s a climber. And he’s a whiz at puzzles. Shirley and I were amazed at the level of skill he demonstrated working with numbers of pieces way above his “age level.” He loves to cuddle especially with Mommy. Jonah is Jon’s and Larina’s 17 month old Son. He’s a little dynamo. Always on the go. We worried about Jonah when he was young. His digestive system seemed a bit delicate. But he appears to have outgrown those problems. His Dad assured me recently that he’s eating well now as long as there isn’t something more important to do. He loves the water and has all but mastered swimming. His smile, enhanced by pronounced dimples, envelops his entire person. It is so engaging. We love these kids. We’re proud of every one of them.

Obviously we are proud of our Sons and thankful for all three of them. We are proud of the men they’re becoming and grateful for the place our Lord has been given in their lives!

We are equally proud of the women who have come into their lives and become their companions and best friends on the journey. These women are highly intelligent, beautiful people. They are passionately devoted to Jesus. Their love for our Sons and the Children they share is distinctly defined by the Divine in it. Each of them have deliberately made the making of a home for their Husbands and Children their first career priority. This is most certainly not that they have no other options. Korenne, Jim’s Wife, is a beautiful woman who had begun a career in Broadcast Journalism when she chose to marry him. We saw her doing a Sportscast for Sky Sports in England on one occasion. She’s as skilled as any woman I’ve seen. And the camera loves her. That voice with its elegant English nuances and warm, rich tones is so winsome. Since their marriage she has continued in radio but always with the proviso that she will be with her boys first. She has been so in demand that special arrangements have been made, on occasion, for the boys to accompany her or for recording at home. Larina, Jon’s Wife, is a premier Pilates Instructor. While they lived in California she was sought after for her unusual skills by clientele who could afford the best. She continues to pursue this profession but as an avocation to her role as Mother and Wife. Ingvild’s degree is in the Behavioral Sciences but she has tailored her Counseling and Mentoring of Young People to the demands of being the Mother of Marissa, Maddie, and Ethan, as well as the Wife of a very busy Worship Pastor. These women are great Mothers. They are firm. They are tender. They are exceptionally patient. They can read a story for the 10 hundredth time with the feeling and excitement of a first reading. And their Children are most content when they are with them. They complement our Sons exquisitely. Jim is not by nature a tender guy. Korenne is a deeply feeling person. She has tempered him and caringly softened some of his edges. Jason is a deeply reflective artist. At times he can get lost in his musings. Ingvild is a strong, proactive individual who knows how to get those practical things done that we dreamers can find mundane. Together they are a delightful blend of creativity and stability. Jon is a Professional Bicyclist and Sports Events Director. He is on the road a great deal. Larina patiently supports him in his racing often traveling considerable distances to watch his and hundreds of other bikes go round and round or wait along a desolate roadside while the racers travel over mountains or across long point-to-point courses where spectators may only see them once after hours of waiting. Sometimes, especially when he’s directing events, she’ll be home alone for a Weekend or more. But she enthusiastically supports him in his profession. She is a deeply spiritual support to him in a career that is largely without the kind of faith strengthening influences that his Brothers, both Pastors, enjoy. Together Jon and Larina have a relationship with Jesus that the people they work and play with readily speak of whenever Shirley and I attend his races or events.

Our Family is at the top of our list of things we are thankful for this Weekend as well as day-after-day.

Above all else, though, is the Lord who has given us “life and breath” and these wonderful people we get to share our life with.

Personally I am most grateful for the mentors our Lord has brought into my life. For the most part these are writers whose works have become the source of most of what I am learning. I am especially grateful for the work of Dallas Willard. So much of what he writes has been instrumental in my growing intimacy with our Lord. One thing in particular stands out among my recollections. Writing about the Trinity he says, “… the advantage of believing in the Trinity is that we then live as if the Trinity is real: as if the cosmos environing us actually is beyond all else, a self-sufficing community of unspeakably magnificent personal beings of boundless love, knowledge, and power … And our lives are then enmeshed in the true world of God.” As I read and re-read this I realize how vastly profound and unique its implications are for us. Most anyone would agree that where “love” is present, and fully experienced, life flourishes. To realize that our God is one, not as “monad,” but in “unity,” is to discover that he really is “love.” Unified in his oneness, yet distinct in his persons, his perfection is that love he has declared to be his defining characteristic. And so, the “cosmos,” our immeasurable environment, is permeated with the love of this “community” of “persons” which is our God. To envision this is most meaningful to me when I am faced with hardship and pure trouble; things that just don’t make sense; that leave me feeling vulnerable and helpless. I begin to see that if, in fact, I am “enmeshed” in a world permeated by such “love” then whatever happens to me is defined by that “love.” The more I contemplate this the more I believe it is what Jesus and his early witnesses meant by “faith.” The writer of the New Testament letter originally written to Hebrew Christians in the first Century says, “anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” He names this “belief,” “faith.” Faith sees God as someone who “rewards” people who pursue; who “seek him.” Do we really believe that? Maybe when things are going in a direction we consider to be “good.” But do we believe it when things are going “badly”? The larger question is whether or not we’re qualified to define what is “good” and what is “bad” for us. I am coming to believe we do not. Willard’s teaching on “Trinity” is further convincing me that because God is “love” (which necessitates “unity” as opposed to “monism”) then what goes on in his world will be “loving.” Painful? It may be. Mysterious? Certainly. Harmful? No! It is just such “faith” that Jesus taught would dramatically change the way we look at mountains. Merely a “mustard seed” sized portion of it would result in our ability to move them around as needed. While I don’t have time to pursue the nature of “mountains” in the conversations of Jesus, I must re-affirm this. Jesus largest mountain was “Calvary.” And he was able to turn that ignominious “place of the skull” into a sacred symbol of hope because he trusted in his Father, God “who raises the dead.” I am learning to share this conviction and I thank God for a Teacher like Dallas Willard.

Shirley, is, next to this God of love, the most important person in my life. She has been loyal and loving to me for almost 38 years. She is today. Her tireless devotion is a constant for me even though the unknown is a much larger part of our lives than it has ever been and at times painful for her. Her gentle grace continues to teach me the value of a more tender heart. Her practicality brings me back to earth when I’m inclined to pursue, or presume on, fictional dreams. She is a student of culture and media and has helped me to keep at least one foot in the world where our Lord has put me, continually reminding me that he taught us to be “in” the world “not of it,” rather than “out of it.” She prays so consistently and with such simple faith. Recently we met with a friend for whom she’s prayed since High School. That friend, a most unlikely prospect for follower of Jesus, has become just that. It was a thrill to talk with this woman about our Lord and his love for her and the goodness he intends for her.

As you can clearly see I can genuinely affirm that I am, to quote a Preacher I heard last Fall, “wonderfully well, and blessed, and highly favored of the Lord!”

Godspeed to anyone who is willing to believe that he offers this favor to “whomever” simply, upon penitent request …
Jim

LifeLog - 10.23.05 - Some Risks Are Worth Taking

Recently, in preparation for a Retreat theme, “Adventure With a Capital ‘A’: Life With Jesus Beyond the Edge,” I spent some time reflecting on the fact that the life Jesus calls us into, like any Adventure worth the billing, is quite risky. I remembered something I had read in a book, The Jesus Model. This book is written by David McKenna, formerly President of Seattle Pacific University, and later, of Asbury Theological Seminary. In the book, McKenna, whose academic preparation included extensive study in the Behavioral Sciences, looks at the life of Jesus from a psychological perspective.
At one point in this fascinating study he looks at what he calls a “Maturity Model” and measures Jesus life against that model. He notes, in the development of that model, “Harvard Psychologist Gordon Allport’s three criteria by which to measure maturity.” The third of these is a “unifying philosophy of life.” In examining this “unifying philosophy” he notes that Allport sees such a philosophy to be, among other things, “heuristic.” For something to be “heuristic” McKenna writes, it must have an “element of faith.” He quotes Allport. “It is characteristic of the mature mind that it can act wholeheartedly even without absolute certainty.”
Did you get that? Someone who is healthy; who is mature will act when he or she doesn’t know all the facts. Does that mean that a perfectly sane person will take chances? Does that mean that risk takers are not always crazy? Yes, I think so. Applying this to the life of a follower of Jesus, McKenna recalls something a Quaker scholar, Elton Trueblood, said to him. “A Christian is a person who is willing to bet his life that Christ is right.”
We may, initially, nod in agreement. But shouldn’t we ask, “right about what?” What is the essential message of Jesus? What about Jesus is a true believer willing to bet his life is right? When you attempt to reduce all that Jesus stands for and everything he taught to its simplest form you’re left with the very thing he, himself, told someone was most important to God. Namely, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” “Love,” then, to simplify the matter even further, is the focus of Jesus life and the thing a true believer is willing to wager his very life is right. “God,” someone said, “bet the life of his only Son that love could win the world.” Jesus himself said, “By this – i.e. by love – all people will know that” someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus is.
So, Jesus decision to love all humankind is the thing a true believer will bet his life is right.
The risk in such a wager is not so much that Jesus might be wrong. It’s that the wager will require loving. And love itself is so very risky. Nowhere have I seen this risk better described than in C.S. Lewis’ book, The Four Loves. Read what he writes. “In words which can still bring tears to the eyes, St. Augustine describes the desolation in which the death of his friend Nebridius plunged him. (Confessions, IV, 10). Then he draws a moral. This is what comes, he says, of giving one’s heart to anything but God. All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only Beloved who will never pass away.
… Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as ‘Careful! This might lead you to suffering.’
To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that His teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities. … And who could conceivably begin to love God on such a prudential ground …? Who could even include it among the grounds for loving? Would you choose a wife or a Friend – if it comes to that, would you choose a dog – in this spirit? … Eros, lawless Eros, preferring the Beloved to happiness, is more like Love Himself than this.
… We follow One who wept over Jerusalem and at the grave of Lazarus, and, loving all, yet had one disciple whom, in a special sense, he ‘loved.’ …
Even if it were granted that insurances against heartbreak were our highest wisdom, does God Himself offer them? Apparently not. Christ comes at last to say, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’
… There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness. It is like hiding the talent in a napkin and for much the same reason. ‘I knew you that you were a hard man.’ Christ did not teach and suffer that we might become, even in the natural loves, more careful of our own happiness. If a man is not uncalculating towards the earthly beloveds whom he has seen, he is none the more likely to be so towards God whom he has not. We shall draw nearer to God not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armor. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.” (The Four Loves” Pgs 110 – 112)
In my opinion it is precisely this “faith;” this “throwing away all defensive armor,” and loving with abandon, that is the distinguishing characteristic of the “mature Christian.” Risky? You bet!

LifeLog 10.12.05 - Family Time

It’s mid-afternoon on the 6th of October 2005. We are, according to the flight data given to us by the pilot, 37,000 feet above the North Sea. Our destination? Home!

For the past 17 days we’ve been doing the “Nanny” – “Gramps” and “Nanna” if you ask our eldest Grandson – thing. More specifically, my Wife and I have been in London, England to celebrate the birth of our Seventh Grandchild; Grandson # 5. Kaleb Josiah Denison was born, the 3rd Son of our first Son and his Wife, Korenne, on September 21st. Because Jim and Korenne live in England and their other two Sons were born there this is the first occasion we’ve had to share the joy of the birth of one of their Kids. They wanted this for us and we are thankful to have been able to add such a momentous occasion to our diary of precious memories.

Thinking back, now, on those high energy days so much reels through my mind. I am still in awe of the magnanimous generosity of our Lord who made it financially possible for us to make the trip. We’ve deliberately opted to live without guaranteed income, for now, and the idea of International travel, for other than work related purposes, was preposterous. But today the unthinkable is a marvel-packed memory. There’s even a little money left over. Beside these wonders I have so many more memories.

I could recount the overnight flight September 19 & 20 culminating in a whirlwind rendezvous with our Son and his revved up two and four year old Sons. The ride to London from Heathrow, in a compact car, squeezed between kids’ car seats, rocketing through a maze of motorways and “roundabouts,” on the wrong side of the road, is a tale by itself. One day had just dissolved, or should I say, been jettisoned into another.

Arriving, finally, safely, we loved their home the moment we were welcomed in. The large trees along their street and the vegetation all around concealed the somewhat congested nature of the Community. Carefully conserved green spaces were every where around them and these, combined with the nearby, renowned, English countryside offered the freedom to enjoy outdoor life daily. Always our energetic Grandsons were there to add color and adventure to whatever we were doing. We flew kites. We pushed swings. We watched boys slide down slides more ways than I thought possible. We gathered and husked “conkers.” We chased pigeons around an open air shopping mall with 2 boys in a 1 boy stroller. The 2-a-day walks to and from Nursery School with 4 year-old Samuel, were, for me, a return to a Child’s world.

Try it. You’ll get it. Try visiting Mother and newborn with the baby’s 2 and 4 year old siblings. Play, “Let me entertain you” to an audience of 2 youngsters in a hospital corridor or on the parking lot. Take them to a toy store to “occupy them” while their parents enjoy much needed “kid free” time. No matter where you are the clash of adult/child interests is the main event. Anytime from 5:45 AM to 8:00 PM it’ll rock your world. I have new respect for Jim and Korenne. And I apologize to any of you parents of young kids whom I may have criticized for periodic use of the TV as a surrogate nanny. If you can bear the endless repetition, which is the stuff of childhood learning, and ruthlessly screen anything that’s offered, you’ll find it quite a welcome companion especially if you’re jet-lagged or have been wakened by a couple of amped up boys at 5 or 6 in the morning.

Despite everything going on there were times for conversation with our Son and his Wife. Jim and I have always enjoyed watching sports together and got to do some of that. Cricket, a new game for me, and soccer - “football” to be “proper” – were always available. If you didn’t mind day or two old baseball and American football, plenty of real sports were there to be enjoyed as well. We were even treated to live play-off baseball on the last two days of our stay.

Shirley and I enjoyed worshipping with a group of Young Adults in a retro interior Cathedral in the center of London on the last Sunday night. We’d never sung with a choir of drums and before but found ourselves drawn into meaningful worship just the same. A Husband and Wife speaking Team challenged us, in the telling of their own stories, to ask ourselves the question, once again, is God enough for us “NOW,” in our present circumstances, regardless of how daunting. The vitality among these people was even more engaging set, as it was, in dramatic contrast to their drab, gray, venue, huddled ghostlike in its crowded niche of grimly gothic structures; a cathedral, not so long ago the veritable tomb of a faith that had died in these shadows of a now pagan city. Creatively, vivaciously these young people, perhaps as many as 500 of them, passionately sang, danced, drummed and declared in myriad ways that Christ is very much alive even in the shadows of the gray labyrinth of a London night.

Yes, these have been 17 most eventful days. Days neither Shirley, nor I, will ever forget. We are proud of our Son and his Wife. We’re thankful for the people they’re becoming. Though I’ve sounded like a grumpy Gramps, at times, during these reflections, I am proud of our Grandsons. They are really normal little boys. If they weren’t as active as they are we’d think something was wrong. Both Shirley and I believe Jim and Korenne are superb parents. We are thankful for the obvious indicators that Samuel and Evan are fine men in the making.

The mission Jim and Korenne are on is grandiose in scope. They have determined, and agreed with God and a small core of fellow believers, to be part of the renewal in Greater London. This decision has huge implications for them individually and as a Family. It will bring them to the brink of death figuratively and literally. And it will succeed. What else should we expect when they’re serving the “Lord that made the Heavens”? The new worshippers we sang with in St. Mary’s of London, that memorable Sunday night, are a prototype of what will come of their mission as they follow this vision from the Lord. I’m on the edge of my chair as I imagine it!

On the wall of our Son’s study are words attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. My heart swells as I think of this Man I call “my Son” living so courageously. “It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” Jim can live this way because he has learned, with St. Paul, that we “rely not on ourselves but on God who can raise the dead.”

LifeLog - 07.29.05 - Polarized

“Polarized!”

One word in the Pastor’s “Letter of Resignation.” One word in a collection of words that took just over five minutes to read. One word that exploded on my consciousness like thunder!

“Polarized!”

Our Church; an exemplary Community; followers of Jesus of Nazareth; “polarized”? Our Church; the one I and my Family have been a part of for many years. The people who provided an environment that helped shape our adolescent Sons into servants of Christ; that gave them a place to “cut their teeth,” in the particular service to Jesus and his people they were gifted for. The faith Community that gave me a place to continue fulfilling my calling while adding to my formal training as a Pastor and Teacher. Our Church: “polarized”? The Leaders of our Church “polarized”? The Pastor said so, in his “letter of resignation.”

How could this be?

My troubled mind sorted through stacks of possible answers. I came across memories of an old short film. “Is it always right to be right?” We’d show it to the Kids in our Youth Group at least once every four years. We wanted every Class to get it. We hoped they would understand that, sometimes, people insist on their “rightness” mistakenly. In doing so they harm themselves. They harm others. Only because they have to be “right.” I remembered the closing lines of the film. As the picture faded, a chasm widening between the players, the narrator intoned, “… Each group stood in its solitary rightness. … No one traveled across the giant gap.” “Solitary,” rightness: alone, separated by their insistence that they were right; “polarized.”

At first such ideas seem vaguely similar to the dangerous notion that there really is no “right,” or “wrong;” that we can never know the truth. Objective reality, such reasoning suggests, is unattainable. But then there are those strong words Jesus spoke about “judging” others. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (See the biography of Jesus, in the New Testament of the Bible, called “Luke”. Specifically, chapter six verses 41 & 42.) This is hard to read; so “in your face!” Jesus is saying, when you make judgments about other people you will always grossly overestimate how wrong they are. You will always just as excessively overestimate how right you are. You have a “self-oriented,” and therefore, distorted vision of reality. The German Philosopher, Schopenhauer, wrote, “Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” Brings back memories of Dr. Seuss’ “Yertle the Turtle.” Elevated on top of a stack of his fellow turtles, whom he has bullied into this uncomfortable position, he boasts “I am ruler of all that I see.” Then he sees the moon above him in the sky. To his own, and all turtles’ dismay, he decides he’ll “call some more turtles,” and “stack ‘em to heaven!” He’ll “not allow it!” that “thing that dares to be higher than Yertle the King.” But the plan fails when an ordinary turtle, at the bottom of the stack, burps. The “Turtle King’s” tower collapses and Yertle is catapulted into the pond. A distorted perspective is dramatically corrected. And, “today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he, is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.”

“Polarization” is the inevitable consequence of a belief that my point of view is the only accurate understanding of reality. When such a belief is shared by others – even large numbers of others – it still has the potential to polarize. There are lots of examples: the Montagues and the Capulets; the Hatfields and the McCoys. There’s the example of the love of a Mother that has grown out of proportion. Everyone knows that there is no love more pure and selfless than “Mother love.” Yet, painfully, most of us know of Mothers who’ve become so delusional about their importance to a child that they’ve alienated the child and often many others. No example, though, is more sobering than that of the early Christian apologist, and preacher, Saul of Tarsus. Saul was, in his own words, “legalistically faultless.” By the standards of his own religion, he was “faultless.” Few if any standards are higher than those he lived by. Regardless, he could, legitimately claim that, when measured against those standards, he was “blameless.” Despite such impeccable virtue he had to admit, again in his own words, “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to get them to curse Christ. I was so violently opposed to them that I even hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands.” Clearly others shared his belief that Jesus of Nazareth, and his followers, were the enemy . They became “obsessed.” This man Jesus, and his devotees, must be exterminated. In later years that obsession became the thing Saul – then renamed Paul – most regretted in his life and the basis for his claim that he was the worst of all sinners. He, a man devoted for his entire life to pleasing God, had been mistaken about what God was really like and did not recognize him when he came to live in his neighborhood. How could this be?

“Polarization,” by definition, involves breaking up things. It breaks up groups of people. It divides. And once it divides it makes it easier for people to see those of a different point of view as something less than human. When we’ve gone that far it is alarmingly simple to dismiss or even discard another person. C.S. Lewis describes this process and the only preventative for it in a short essay called, “The Trouble With ‘X’.” He begins with the assumption that most of us have someone in our lives, or know of someone in the life of another, who is difficult. Someone who has made us more than a little miserable. Someone we would be happier without. Then he turns the tables on us. Talking about how God sees our difficulties and the people we blame for them, he writes, “He (God) sees (like you) how all the people in your home or your job are in various degrees awkward or difficult; but when He looks into that home or factory or office He sees one more person of the same kind - the one you never do see. I mean, of course, yourself. That is the next great step in wisdom - to realize that you also are just that sort of person. You also have a fatal flaw in your character. All the hopes and plans of others have again and again shipwrecked on your character just as your hopes and plans have shipwrecked on theirs.
It is no good passing this over with some vague, general admission such as 'Of course, I know I have my faults.' It is important to realize that there is some really fatal flaw in you: something which gives the others just that same feeling of despair which their flaws give you. And it is almost certainly something you don't know about - like what the advertisements call 'halitosis', which everyone notices except the person who has it. But why, you ask, don't the others tell me? Believe me, they have tried to tell you over and over again, and you just couldn't 'take it'. Perhaps a good deal of what you call their 'nagging' or 'bad temper' or 'oddities' are just their attempts to make you see the truth. And even the faults you do know you don't know fully. You say, 'I admit I lost my temper last night'; but the others know that you're always doing it, that you are a bad-tempered person. You say, 'I admit I drank too much last Saturday'; but everyone else knows that you are a habitual drunkard. … we must learn to see ourselves as a person of exactly the same kind. Some people say it is morbid to be always thinking of one's own faults. That would be all very well if most of us could stop thinking of our own without soon beginning to think about those of other people. For unfortunately we enjoy thinking about other people's faults: and in the proper sense of the word 'morbid', that is the most morbid pleasure in the world.
We don't like rationing which is imposed upon us, but I suggest one form of rationing which we ought to impose on ourselves. Abstain from all thinking about other people's faults, unless your duties as a teacher or parent make it necessary to think about them. Whenever the thoughts come unnecessarily into one's mind, why not simply shove them away? And think of one's own faults instead? For there, with God's help, one can do something. Of all the awkward people in your house or job there is only one whom you can improve very much.”

If you’re tempted to dismiss this as just Lewis’ opinion remember Jesus “speck” and “plank.” Remember how distorted our view can be. Remember how wrong a very right man like Saul of Tarsus could be.

We, the Church, will never be able to put our propensity for divisiveness behind us until we accept the fact that we incorrigibly insist on playing down our faults and playing up those of our Brothers and Sisters; until we are prepared to “first take the plank out of our own eye … .” Undoubtedly the polarizing issues in our Church are serious matters. But, according to Jesus, nothing is more serious than admitting when we are wrong. Even if it means laying aside the tools of sacred ritual to “go be reconciled,” to a Brother who thinks we are wrong. (See the biography of Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible called “Matthew”, specifically chapter five verse 24.)

There is a powerful illustration, in the Bible, of how dramatically such reconciliation can be realized. It’s in the New Testament section called “The Acts of the Apostles,” specifically chapter 15.

The story centers around an intense controversy in the First Century Church over whether or not Christians should practice the sacred rituals Jews do. Christianity had Jewish roots. Furthermore the new movement grew as rapidly as it did because Judaism was already well established in the Mediterranean world. This gave its promoters a jumping off point in virtually every place their mission took them because they, usually Jewish themselves, could begin their efforts by arguing, in the local synagogue, that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Messiah, the hope of Israel, and the world. In many instances they were effective. People were persuaded. Whenever their plan to begin with the Jewish people in a community failed they turned to the Gentiles. Again they enjoyed some success. Over time the Church expanded into virtually ever region of the Mediterranean world convincing people from every segment of Greco Roman society that Jesus really is the hope of all humankind.

Out of this wonderfully cosmopolitan movement dissension grew. The Jewish Christians were adamant. The movement was the fulfillment of everything the people of Israel were called to, and had lived for. It was only logical that their rituals should carry over into Christian life. Things came to a head. A Conference was convened in Jerusalem. You can read about it in chapter 15 of “The Acts of the Apostles,” a selective history of the early Church.

To fully understand how significant this Conference is to our discussion it is important to remember who the players were. It was a men only meeting. These men were highly passionate men. The had grown up in a world where a group bludgeoning someone to death with stones because he disagreed with them was not unheard of. Some in the room were guilty of such barbaric behavior. Some bore the scars of such treatment. In classic Biblical understatement the writer says, of the meeting, there was “much debating.” We know from earlier statements that the matter had come to a head because of “sharp dispute and debate.” We can just imagine what this “much debating” looked and sounded like. Just try to join a conversation among friends from any modern Mediterranean culture. Talk on any subject is impassioned. The men debating in the room that day were from most of the ancient Mediterranean countries. This Conference was, frankly, barely controlled chaos. Yet, among its closing remarks was this simple preface to a very brief directive for the Churches, “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.. ..”

“IT SEEMED GOOD TO THE HOLY SPIRIT AND TO US …”

Without going into detail it is clear that what kept these men from stoning each other was a mutual intimacy with God the Holy Spirit and a common respect for the influence of that Spirit in the other. Passionate feelings? Oh yes! Impassioned defense of their positions? Most certainly! Polarization? At times! Reconciliation? Yes!

To leave the defense of our “solitary rightness,” and be reconciled with each other is God’s will. If we surrender to this aspect of his will by obeying the simple command of Jesus to “go,” to the very one who thinks we are wrong, then the events of Acts 15 will begin to be rewritten. Strong words may be spoken. Sharp feelings might follow. But respect for the voice of the Spirit in our own heart, as well as in the heart of the other, will lead to a mutual recognition of God’s view of the matter. Hearts wanting that view above all others will be reconciled.

“The job has to be tackled some day: and every day we put it off will make it harder to begin. … The matter is serious: let us put ourselves in His hands at once - this very day, this hour.”

Jesus of Nazareth

LifeLog - 06.26.05

DNF – That’s what’s with it!

He did not finish!!!

Here’s his excuse. “I set out to run the 26.2 miles at 3:30 pace. That meant I would finish in 3 hours and 30 minutes. At 13.1 miles I was on a 3:40 pace and unlikely to finish in less than four hours. Since I’d run that particular Marathon in a similar time in previous years there was nothing to prove just finishing it. So, at mile 14 I left the course and walked to the finish line.”

Here are some of his reflections.

“What have I learned participating in dozens of Marathons over the span of more than thirty years? I could write a book full of answers to that question.

“What have I learned from this Marathon that I should have remembered from others?

“I’ve learned that you run within yourself. If you haven’t been able to maintain a sub – 4 hour pace in training, or recent races, you’ll not likely do so in this one. I didn’t want to accept that. So I burned out half way through.

“I’ve learned that though you run alone you’re never really alone. My Wife invested a lot of time and effort to be there that day to support me. And she was genuinely disappointed in my failure to finish. She believed in me so much that she just assumed I would achieve what I said I would. So did our Son. So did the people who pledged to support me in the event. And I let them down. Not because I failed to finish but because I failed to make realistic promises. Sometimes people say things like, “You can do whatever you set your mind to!” That is true. But only insofar as you are willing to do the hard work involved in preparing to do whatever it is you’ve set out to do. Only if you’re willing to measure your progress realistically at points along the way and accept the limits of each stage in your development. I did train for this Marathon. I ran a 21 miler two weeks before the event. But the course I took had a lot of stops and rough terrain and I adjusted my finishing time to those factors. As a result I did not have a true measure of the pace I was capable of over that distance. My Half Marathon time revealed that I had simply not properly prepared. And, by failing to let people know all the facts I knew in my own mind, I misled them. Even a solo event is a Team thing. “No man is an island.” We ignore that to the injury of ourselves and others.

“I’ve learned that you cannot let disappointment distract you. This was a big event for me. But, measured against the larger issues of life, it was nothing more than a bad day on the golf course for a “duffer.” Of course, for some duffers, that could be a life altering experience. But really! I got up the next morning. Our dog still loved me. Our Son’s colleagues, who watched the mornings goings on with interest, insisted that I was a “stud” to run a Half Marathon in 1:51. My Wife still assured me she loved me. And, above all else, our Lord, “the God of Second Chances,” still loved me. My passion for the larger things of life like loving the people in my world and serving our Lord by caring for them was still strong. And I was every bit as energized to live for the higher purposes I’m giving my life to as I’ve ever been.

“I’ve learned, as well, that even when you’re running as fast as you can through life you’re never out of our Lord’s field of vision or the range of his hearing. That day, even while I was running over my head, I was aware of his presence and in intimate personal conversation with him. Later, walking sheepishly past the people who, thinking I was still in the race, were cheering me on, I was aware of his Spirit’s reassurance deep in my consciousness. We talked about life’s tests. I admitted my disappointment. I contemplated the thought that I was “a quitter.” He seemed to be reminding me that it mattered more that I stayed with the commitments I’d made to live for him and love him and the people he brought into my life from day-to-day than with this. I chuckled, and thought maybe he did too, as I watched the plethora of people in the stands and on the course; all shapes and sizes; making every imaginable kind of fashion statement; all, like myself, preoccupied with their own private experience of life in microcosm. And I asked him to forgive me for the presumption that my perception of life could possibly define the limits of ultimate reality. I prayed he’d enlarge my vision of him and the meaning of what was happening in that or any other of life’s moments.

“And so, today, 21 days after the “Coca Cola Zero Rock’n Roll Marthon,” I am in final preparation for an 8 day Speaking Engagement at Wesley Acres Camp and Conference Centre (note the spelling) 200 miles East of Toronto, Canada. The Camp will run from Saturday, July 2 through Sunday July 10. This and events like it are what the mission I’ve been called to is all about. And I go with determination to “finish the course” hoping that someone – many some ones – will get a taste of “LIFE a la Jesus” and leave singing, “Now I have found what I’m lookin’ for!”

LifeLog - 03.27.05

It’s Easter!
March 27, 2005.
A lot of friends and colleagues, even strangers, have commented on how early this “High point on the Christian Calendar” has come this year. One friend, a colleague, even asked me if I knew who decided when Easter would be each year and how they made that decision.

While I could not remember ever asking that question or even hearing it addressed I offered what seemed, at the time, to be a reasonable answer. “It happened during Passover. And Passover’s date, for all time, was precisely defined the first night it was observed.” We talked a bit about the events of that first Easter Weekend and I suggested he do an Internet search of the “Jewish Calendar.”

Later that day I did that search and discovered, to my utter embarrassment, that I was mistaken. Even though the events we celebrate today unquestionably took place the day following Jesus’ observance of Passover, subsequent celebrations of his passion and resurrection seem to have been somewhat randomly scheduled. Passover this year is almost a month (April 23) later than Easter. Oh, there’s a plethora of chatter in the history of its dating, attempting to explain, even justify the reasons for this celebration being dislodged from its original place in time. Some even complain that our present schedule for the observances of Easter are just that; observances of Easter, a pagan holiday; accommodation to pagan rituals. In the end, it appeared my only vindication would be that I could tell my friend, “Well at least that’s when the first resurrection took place.”

Of course that didn’t satisfy me. I fumed inwardly about it for a day or two. But then I rediscovered a marvelous thing about our God. He specializes in bringing “beauty” out of “ashes.” He takes the chaos and confusion left in the wake of our clumsiness and makes out of it memorable, sometimes life-changing events and experiences. And so he did, for me at least, this Easter that has, apparently, come too early.

It all has to do with the moon.

One of the ways the ancients organized their calendars was to link dates to phases of the moon. Makes sense doesn’t it? The date on which Passover always falls is the “night of the first full moon of the first month of Spring (Jewish Month Nisan 14 – 15).” The “earliest Christians celebrated the ‘Lord’s Passover’ at the same time as the Jews celebrated theirs.” Nearly three Centuries later, a group of Church Leaders, known to historians as The Council of Nicaea, met. The actual year was 325 AD. They decreed that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). Not much different from the Jewish “first full moon of the first month of Spring.” Their decision stuck. So, for many Christians, Easter can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25. Out of the Centuries of controversy, still fomenting in some circles, one thing can be expected. There will be a Full Moon during our celebration of Jesus death and resurrection. And that, what might be called, “ho hum” thing, is the reason for my unusual experience this Easter.

First I need to set the backdrop. Holy Week 2002 followed my resignation from a four year assignment with a Church in Southern California. It was the first Easter in 32 years that I was not the pastor of a local Church and completely immersed in the busyness of this the “highest” of all Christian days. That year I established a new personal ritual. I would observe “Lent.” Kind of embarrassing to admit I hadn’t done so earlier. Bless him! Walter Wangerin made me do it. His 40 days of “Meditations on The Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus as recorded in Mark;” “Reliving the Passion,” inspired me to adopt this discipline. Of course, purist that I am, the discipline was completely focused on knowing Jesus more intimately and had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I was unemployed, without income, and had no idea what I would do next.

Yah! Right!

Regardless of motive I have maintained this discipline for, now, three years. This year, despite the successful launching of “destiny:Life!” an independent ministry, I am still struggling with a sense of futility largely rooted in professional and financial uncertainty. I want to know what God’s specific purpose for me really is! I honestly believe the last three years have purified my heart ‘til I truly long to know our Lord more intimately. I am pursuing that intimacy passionately. I’m increasingly convinced that to know him is to know ourselves and his purpose for us. The discipline is becoming a more and more intense quest to know our Lord and understand life with Him. This Passion Week I’ve been awakened every night. The first night, as I walked through our dining room, the light shining through the window and on the wall was astonishingly bright. My first thought was that the neighbor’s floodlight had been turned on by a critter tripping the notion detector. Going to the window to check I discovered the light of a dramatically brilliant full moon filtering through the trees in our front yard, lighting our dining room, and the entire neighborhood ‘til it seemed like the gray blue glow of early sunrise had settled over the landscape. I stood in awe of it. There’s something about the light of the full moon. It’s a pure white light. Perhaps it seems more so because it shines out of the dark backdrop of night. Yet, even against the dull glow of light from a “city that never sleeps” its vivid clarity stirs wonder in me. I knelt and gazed. In meditation God opened some windows for me.

I really do want to know Him. As I knelt, transfixed by this wonder filled scene he’d created, I remembered. The moon, in itself, is a dull, lifeless mass of matter. Its light is a reflection of another’s light. We are “dust.” Like the moon, dull, lifeless, “without light in a dark world. In Jesus light, though, we become radiant. The reflection of the “light of the world.” This world can no more look upon the face of God than we can the sun. But, just like the reflection of the sun in the moon our light is “approachable.” They can see; even gaze on his reflection in us. They can be drawn by this “lesser light” to Him who is “the light of all life.”

Once my eyes adjusted to the unusual brilliance of the moon, that early morning, I noticed again the patterns, the shadows of its dull lifelessness on its face. The pristine orb is really only a dull lifeless thing. Its true essence showed through. Despite the brilliance of the sun it reflects, its darkness cannot be completely obscured. And so it is with us. The “dust” protrudes. The whole point of Christ’s passion is that we are a grotesquely marred race. His wounds are wounds inflicted on him by our flawed nature. His light reveals that. An honest, rigorous, passionate reliving of his suffering brings us face-to-face with our true selves. Our eyes focus. We are appalled at the scars. Pretenses are exposed. We are not the light; just dull, gray, lifeless masses of matter; matter that he chooses to make the surface on which to project the light of his life and love and demonstrate his power to remake us. What an amazingly wonderful love his is.

Then I realized the moonlight was dimming. The sun had begun another journey across that piece of sky visual to my eyes. My attention turned again to the Eastern sky and the regularly spectacular light show of colors and images that is the sunrise. Moonlight and its allure dissolved into a “greater light.” And I remembered that the moon, and my “dust self” have this in common. The light we reflect is the true light. The dull lifelessness; the “dust” does not diminish its brilliance. On the contrary, our darkness, by contrast, intensifies it. The moon has no brilliance in itself. In the shadow of its planet it cannot be seen. It will never be confused for the sun. I have no intrinsic brilliance, nothing to offer my world. But the love of him who is “the light of the world,” reflecting off the dusty surface of my life, reveals his intention and power to make, even out of something so humble, a reason to turn to his light. That reason is his love; love that gives me such dignity regardless of my sordid condition. Love that chooses me as a source of his light among those he wants to illuminate.

Here was the end of my search. I wanted so much to know God’s specific purpose for my life. And he was showing me. To reflect his glory. God has chosen me to be a reflection of his light to my world. But isn’t that everyone’s purpose? Yes. So, where are the specifics; the personal details of the rest of my life? Walter Wangerin helped me see those details. In words to Mary of Magdala, plunged in despair by the death of her Master, he says, “God … who made the world from nothing … can still astonish you. He can make of your … groanings a hymn.
… Prepare your spices. Return on Sunday, even to this scene of your sorrow, expecting nothing but a corpse, planning nothing but to sigh once more and to pay respects.
One story is done indeed, my Magdalene. You’re right. You’ve entered the dark night of the soul.
But another story … starts at sunrise. And the empty time between … is in fact preparing you! Soon you will change. Soon you will become that holy conundrum which must baffle and antagonize the world: a saint. Saint Mary Magdalene. “As dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” – that host of contradictions, the beauty of Spirit, the puzzle of all who know him not, the character of the saints!
Come again on Sunday, Mary, and see how it is that God makes saints.
Come, follow.”

There it is! God’s specific will for my life is discovered in the faithful living of the life I’m now living. He calls me to “return on Sunday.” To “return … even to (the) scene of … sorrow … planning nothing but to sigh once more and pay respects.” To “come again on Sunday, … and see how it is that God makes saints.” To “come, follow.” Follow!
And so, today, I have heard, in the glow of Easter moonlight, Jesus call. “Follow!” “Let me, as I have done with my own life, make you extraordinary through the faithful living of ordinary, everyday life.”

“Rise! Shine! Your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” (Isaiah 60:1ff)