It's Christmastime again -- that time of year when many people complain about the overcommercialization of Christmas or the "war on Christmas" by those trying to take Christ out of Christmas.
I am distressed over the lack of Christ in Christmas, but not in the same way that the "war on Christmas" people are. I don't want to get into an argument about saying "Merry Christmas" or what you should call your light-decorated office tree. You used to hear people talk about the "Christmas spirit" -- a feeling of love and joy, a spirit of giving - not of giving and getting presents, but of wanting to do things for other people. It might lead you to take a parking spot way out so that someone else might have one closer. It might lead you to anonymously pay for the food of the person behind you in the drive-through. It might lead you to smile and wave to strangers just because you are full of an inexplicable joy. I think that being in the "Christmas spirit" is really being in the spirit of Christ.
It feels like that spirit is being drowned out by the ring of cash registers, honking horns, and the shouts of people angry over the phrase "Happy Holidays".
Friday, December 16, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Greater Love
Every once in a while, I see a bumper sticker that quotes John 15:13 - "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." The funny thing about seeing this quote on a bumper sticker is that it is often in the company of military-oriented stickers. In that context, the obvious implication is that being a soldier and risking your life for others is the greatest expression of love.
While I can appreciate the spirit of self-sacrifice behind that thought, I can't imagine that Jesus was trying to say "Greater love has no man than this, that a man go and kill other people for his friends." I wonder what the reaction would be if the verse ended with "lay down his life for his enemies." That seems more in line with Jesus teaching about loving our enemies. And in the end, that's what Jesus did.
Update: My friend Shane pointed me to this article entitled Thank God for Enemies.
While I can appreciate the spirit of self-sacrifice behind that thought, I can't imagine that Jesus was trying to say "Greater love has no man than this, that a man go and kill other people for his friends." I wonder what the reaction would be if the verse ended with "lay down his life for his enemies." That seems more in line with Jesus teaching about loving our enemies. And in the end, that's what Jesus did.
Update: My friend Shane pointed me to this article entitled Thank God for Enemies.
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Meeting for Worship for Peace
Tonight Atlanta Friends Meeting held our first Meeting for Worship for Peace. As I mentioned back in August, in a Meeting for Worship for Peace we hold individuals, groups and situations in the light, specifically with an orientation towards peace work.
Going in, I was a little apprehensive over how the meeting would turn out. My friend Dwight did a lot of work to get the meeting going, and we wondered if we would be the only ones there. We ended up with 7 people, which seems about usual for week-day events at our meeting house, and Dwight did a lovely job as the convener. The meeting was the kind of deep worship we had experienced during Meeting for Worship for Healing, and those in attendance seemed excited that it would be a monthly event.
Of the people we held in the light, only one of them was actually in attendance. As with Meeting for Worship for Healing, it seemed easier to focus on the person in attendance. Someone suggested that maybe we could bring a picture or some item representing someone not in attendance to help us focus a little better next time. We'll give that a try.
We get caught up in what we are doing sometimes, and forget that God is there as our foundation. I believe that this kind of meeting helps us maintain that connection.
Going in, I was a little apprehensive over how the meeting would turn out. My friend Dwight did a lot of work to get the meeting going, and we wondered if we would be the only ones there. We ended up with 7 people, which seems about usual for week-day events at our meeting house, and Dwight did a lovely job as the convener. The meeting was the kind of deep worship we had experienced during Meeting for Worship for Healing, and those in attendance seemed excited that it would be a monthly event.
Of the people we held in the light, only one of them was actually in attendance. As with Meeting for Worship for Healing, it seemed easier to focus on the person in attendance. Someone suggested that maybe we could bring a picture or some item representing someone not in attendance to help us focus a little better next time. We'll give that a try.
We get caught up in what we are doing sometimes, and forget that God is there as our foundation. I believe that this kind of meeting helps us maintain that connection.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Don't call me good, part 2
That verse from Mark about "No one is good except God alone" has still been on my mind. Specifically, I was thinking about the interpretation that suggests Jesus is essentially trying to get the man to reach the logical conclusion that he is God. I was talking to my friend Shane yesterday about it, and I said that from my frame of reference, I could read it as Jesus saying that he was good to the extent that he was doing God's will. So Shane, as usual, asked a very good question. "When did Jesus not do God's will?"
I don't have a direct answer for that, of course, but I have what I would call a suspicion. I believe that Jesus was born as a normal human being. During his life, he became so close to God that Jesus the human essentially ceased to be and he was the living will of God. If the account of Jesus' baptism is a historical account, and not an attempt to link him to John the Baptist, then I wonder if it was the moment of epiphany for him, that he gave himself up completely at that point. If so, then my answer to Shane's question would be that he might have deviated from the will of God before that point.
There are times, too, in the gospels when I feel like it is the human Jesus speaking. In the garden of Gesthemane, for example, when he asks "Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." And of course on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me".
Although a lot of people consider my view of Jesus to be blasphemous, I find that it gives me great hope. The things Jesus did and the way he acted are not impossible for us. The closer we align ourselves to God, the more we become like Jesus. I have often heard people dismiss some of Jesus' teachings as impossible for us to follow because we are only human. I do not believe that, and I know that the early Quakers did not believe that as well. George Fox spoke of us being restored to the state of Adam before he fell:
And that brings me back to the verse in Mark, and closer to William Barclay's view of Mark 10:18, which is that we shouldn't concentrate on "being good", we should concentrate on being in God. Out of that comes the good.
I don't have a direct answer for that, of course, but I have what I would call a suspicion. I believe that Jesus was born as a normal human being. During his life, he became so close to God that Jesus the human essentially ceased to be and he was the living will of God. If the account of Jesus' baptism is a historical account, and not an attempt to link him to John the Baptist, then I wonder if it was the moment of epiphany for him, that he gave himself up completely at that point. If so, then my answer to Shane's question would be that he might have deviated from the will of God before that point.
There are times, too, in the gospels when I feel like it is the human Jesus speaking. In the garden of Gesthemane, for example, when he asks "Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." And of course on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me".
Although a lot of people consider my view of Jesus to be blasphemous, I find that it gives me great hope. The things Jesus did and the way he acted are not impossible for us. The closer we align ourselves to God, the more we become like Jesus. I have often heard people dismiss some of Jesus' teachings as impossible for us to follow because we are only human. I do not believe that, and I know that the early Quakers did not believe that as well. George Fox spoke of us being restored to the state of Adam before he fell:
And the Lord showed me that such as were faithful to Him, in the power and light of Christ, should come up into that state in which Adam was before he fell
And that brings me back to the verse in Mark, and closer to William Barclay's view of Mark 10:18, which is that we shouldn't concentrate on "being good", we should concentrate on being in God. Out of that comes the good.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Don't call me good
I have been re-reading the Gospel According to Mark lately, and Mark 10:18 has been in my mind over this past weekend:
When I read that, it sounds like Jesus does not consider himself to be God. There is a note in the NET bible that seems to say that Jesus was suggesting that if only God is good, and the man considers Jesus to be good, then there is only one logical conclusion. I googled on this verse, and most of the pages I found seemed to express the same sentiment as the NET bible. I consulted a number of commentaries and study bibles, and most of them indicate that in Mark, Jesus is not equated with God, which is in obvious contrast to John (not to mention most of those sites on the Internet).
I think that this verse is a good one for revealing how we read the bible with our own preconceived notions. This verse could legitimately be taken at least two ways, and either way would be in harmony with other verses, and in conflict with some others. In the end, I think that we get so caught up in debating what the verse is supposed to mean that we miss the true message. To put it into Jesus' time period, I think that we become Pharisees.
10:17 Now as Jesus was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 10:18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.(From The NET Bible)
When I read that, it sounds like Jesus does not consider himself to be God. There is a note in the NET bible that seems to say that Jesus was suggesting that if only God is good, and the man considers Jesus to be good, then there is only one logical conclusion. I googled on this verse, and most of the pages I found seemed to express the same sentiment as the NET bible. I consulted a number of commentaries and study bibles, and most of them indicate that in Mark, Jesus is not equated with God, which is in obvious contrast to John (not to mention most of those sites on the Internet).
I think that this verse is a good one for revealing how we read the bible with our own preconceived notions. This verse could legitimately be taken at least two ways, and either way would be in harmony with other verses, and in conflict with some others. In the end, I think that we get so caught up in debating what the verse is supposed to mean that we miss the true message. To put it into Jesus' time period, I think that we become Pharisees.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Recognizing Jesus
I was at a banquet one time and saw a man who looked very familiar to me. After quite a bit of staring and pondering, I realized that he was a distant cousin. It took me so long to recognize him because I wasn't expecting to see him there. I think we all experience that odd sensation when we see someone we know in a different context and don't recognize them immediately.
I think that happens with God as well. There are certain times where we are expecting the presence of the Holy Spirit, such as at Meeting for Worship, and we are often more able to sense that presence. I think of some of the post-resurrection stories, such as the road to Emmaus, or Mary at the tomb, where the disciples failed to recognize Jesus because they weren't expecting him to be there. In our daily lives, we aren't always looking for God or expecting God to be there, so we may fail to recognize God's presence.
I think that happens with God as well. There are certain times where we are expecting the presence of the Holy Spirit, such as at Meeting for Worship, and we are often more able to sense that presence. I think of some of the post-resurrection stories, such as the road to Emmaus, or Mary at the tomb, where the disciples failed to recognize Jesus because they weren't expecting him to be there. In our daily lives, we aren't always looking for God or expecting God to be there, so we may fail to recognize God's presence.
Wednesday, September 7, 2005
A little practical mysticism
I read Frank Laubach's The Game With Minutes (PDF) this morning. It is a nice set of practices for remembering God at various points in your day, working towards the idea of praying without ceasing. The basic game is really just trying to remember God, or bring God to mind, at least minute of an hour. For an hour's time, you might score yourself to see in how many of those minutes you actually managed to remember God.
In addition to the basic game, Frank Laubach also provides other suggestions for remembering God. One struck a chord with me, which is that he says a little prayer for people when he is on a train or in a crowd. When I remember to, I try to hold other drivers in the Light briefly as I am driving. I find that it makes me a much calmer, more courteous driver, and I don't get as upset over other people's rudeness. I think that either praying for other people or holding them in the Light can be more helpful than the Jesus Prayer because it is more of an outreach to others. You are simultaneously practicing the two great commandments to love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.
I was also trying to come up with ways to remember God while at work. I'm a computer programmer, and I have to do quite a lot of thinking. Today I tried to think of God when I hit the "Enter" key on my keyboard - as in "ENTER into God's presence" or "RETURN to God". I can't say that I remembered all that often, but I hope to do better.
Frank Laubach also wrote Letters By a Modern Mystic.
Update
The PDF of "The Game With Minutes" is incomplete. This PDF includes The Game with Minutes among some other works and has the complete version.
Update #2 (11/14/2006)
Peter Schott has pointed out that The Power of the Holy Spirit (Volume III) contains a more complete copy of the Game With Minutes. Thanks, Peter!
In addition to the basic game, Frank Laubach also provides other suggestions for remembering God. One struck a chord with me, which is that he says a little prayer for people when he is on a train or in a crowd. When I remember to, I try to hold other drivers in the Light briefly as I am driving. I find that it makes me a much calmer, more courteous driver, and I don't get as upset over other people's rudeness. I think that either praying for other people or holding them in the Light can be more helpful than the Jesus Prayer because it is more of an outreach to others. You are simultaneously practicing the two great commandments to love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.
I was also trying to come up with ways to remember God while at work. I'm a computer programmer, and I have to do quite a lot of thinking. Today I tried to think of God when I hit the "Enter" key on my keyboard - as in "ENTER into God's presence" or "RETURN to God". I can't say that I remembered all that often, but I hope to do better.
Frank Laubach also wrote Letters By a Modern Mystic.
Update
The PDF of "The Game With Minutes" is incomplete. This PDF includes The Game with Minutes among some other works and has the complete version.
Update #2 (11/14/2006)
Peter Schott has pointed out that The Power of the Holy Spirit (Volume III) contains a more complete copy of the Game With Minutes. Thanks, Peter!
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