One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: …‘You shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
—Mark 12:28–31 

In this homily, Father Richard considers Jesus’ response to the question, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”: 

I don’t think any of us really know how to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We might want to love like that, but how do we put all the parts of ourselves together and actually do it? It takes our whole life to figure out what Jesus’ words might even mean. Then Jesus says, “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Mark 12:31). Do any of us do that? Do we really love other people? Do we really give them as much attention as we give to ourselves? I don’t think so. We need to recognize, of course, that Jesus does imply that you must love yourself. If we hate ourselves, then how can we possibly know how to love our neighbor? We have to know proper and appropriate love of self, but we cannot stop there. 

Imagine how different the world would be if we just obeyed that one commandment—to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It would be the most mighty political, social upheaval imaginable. The world would be radically different if human beings really treated other people as they would like to be treated. We can take this as a simple rule of thumb: What would I want from that person right now? What would be helpful for me to receive? Well, there’s our commandment. There’s our obligation to do to others!  

It’s so simple that we can see why we put all our attention on the Ten Commandments, or the hundreds of other regulations culture and religion place on us. It’s much easier to worry about things that keep us “pure,” so to speak, but are of little consequence.  

I think the scribe is asking a very good question. After all is said and done, it comes down to loving God and loving our neighbor—and that implies loving ourselves. If I said this without quoting Jesus, I could be accused of oversimplifying or ignoring some of the important commandments, but thank God Jesus said it first. He taught that it’s all about love, and in the end, that’s all we’re all going to be judged for. Did we love? Did we love life? Did we love ourselves? Did we love God and did we love our neighbor? Concentrating on that takes just about our whole lifetime and we won’t have much time left over to worry about what other people are doing or not doing. Our job is to love God, love ourselves, and love our neighbor. 

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Story From Our Community

One of my neighbors is very outspoken with her political views. Her yard signs sometimes aggravate other neighbors by promoting ideas that some would call conspiracy theories and other divisive ideas. As I have been reading the Daily Meditations, I have felt the spirit of Love and reconciliation grow in my heart. One day, I thanked her for her devotion, explaining that she was an important voice in our community. She looked shocked, and then quickly softened her defensive manner toward me. I felt a shift and something was transformed that day. Now, as I communicate with her, she trusts that I respect her dignity. I have begun to fold her into my life as a gift. Thank you for preparing me for this powerful moment of grace.

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5 For Friday John Chaffee

Grace and Peace, Friends!

We are speeding toward Summer now, and all that season brings!  Sunlight, outside time, adventures, and whatnot.  Spring here near Philly was pretty wet, but I admit the summers are great.

This Spring was somewhat challenging for me to be teaching an online class, teaching theology in the Philly prison system, and maintaining what hours I could at REI.  It felt for a long time as if everyday off from one part-time job was spent working at a different part-time job.

This means that for the past 8 months, I have not been as able to work on other projects, but I am excited to have a few more hours back each week this summer to work on other things (see below the 5 quotes to find what I am doing)!

On a side note, and as many of you already know, I thoroughly enjoy the works of Thomas Merton and did a silent week at his former abbey back in 2019.  Since then, I have been a member of the International Thomas Merton Society and recently reached out to start back up the Philly Chapter of the Thomas Merton Society.  I hope to connect with other Merton-ites and generally share Merton with new people.  When that starts up, I will let you know.

That’s all I can think of for now so…

Onto this week’s 5 quotes!

(Always feel free to forward this email to friends if you want to share a quote with them!)

1.
“Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.”

• Gregory of Nyssa
   
  Idolatry is sneaky, and my oh my how we love to cling to and violently defend our ideas of what we think ‘God’ is.

2.
“I’m not sure I have made this clear: self-knowledge is so important that even if you were drawn directly into heaven in prayer, I wouldn’t want you to replace your practices of humble and honest self-reflection.”

• St. Teresa of Avila in Interior Castle
   
  Recently, I ordered a new translation of Interior Castle.  This is my 4th reread of this classic text, and while it is familiar it still feels fresh.  It is interesting to know a text so well that you can pick up the nuances of 4 translations.

Teresa of Avila has much to teach modern Evangelicalism, which in my mind has a faulty understanding of self-knowledge.

While working in the church world I saw how Evangelicalism only wants people to focus on their breaking of commandments, rules, or codes but not become aware of the ways we are negatively affected by traumas and attachment.

This means that “as long as you follow the rules, you are good.”  In reality, though, we can “follow the rules” and yet deeply hurt those close to us because we are acting out of a certain reactivity or need for control that is unhealthy and ultimately, unholy.

In the 1600s, Teresa saw this dynamic at play and while she did not have the modern resources of psychology, I believe she was long ahead of the curve in knowing the importance of self-inquiry and self-knowledge.

3.
“Clinging to your identity as a ‘spiritual person’ is still an ego attachment.”

• Unknown
   
  The thought of being completely without an ego is intriguing to me.  First off, who knows if it is even possible, and secondarily, I wonder about the egolessness of Jesus.

Consider this, Jesus never reacted in such a way that when he was misunderstood, slandered, or accused he took it as a personal affront.

This communicates to me something about his lack of ego.  The Philippians Hymn refers to the idea of “kenosis” or “the process of pouring out.”  Jesus was so completely poured out/emptied that he had no ego to defend or broadcast.  He was able to be completely free for the sake of Goodness, Beauty, Truth, and Love.

4.
“Sit silently in your cell and it will teach you everything.”

• An Early Desert Monastic Proverb
   
  Early desert monasticism had so much right!

The ability to sit alone with ourselves is not simply revealing, it leaves us completely vulnerable to our thoughts, attachments, addictions, idols, grief, need for connection, and so on.

Perhaps that is why we are so uncomfortable being alone and so often misunderstand the difference between being alone and lonely.

To sit alone and in silence is a deafening experience.

Without the ability to distract our minds, hearts, or souls, we are left having to finally listen to all the unaddressed themes swirling around in us.  It takes courage, it takes bravery, it takes conscious commitment, and choice to engage those parts of ourselves.

5.
“Strength is creative when it expresses itself by making the weak strong… Strength that shows its power directly without reference to strengthening the weak is pagan.”

• Kosuke Koyama in Three Mile an Hour God
   
  This one jumped out at me.  I have been reading Three Mile an Hour God, which is a collection of essays from Kosuke Koyama, and within a few pages, I could tell how it is a classic text.  With wit and superb insight, Koyama expounds upon topics that have reasonable critiques of Western culture.  Speaking as a Japanese theologian, his words both made me chuckle as well as pause.

Howard Thurman (1899–1981) reflected that contemplation helped him distinguish between pity and compassion.  

God is making room in my heart for compassion.  

There is already a vast abundance of room for pity … [including] self-pity, that sticky substance that ruins everything it touches…. There is pity in me—pity for others. But there is something in it that cannot be trusted; it is mixed with pride, arrogance, cunning. I see this only when I expose myself to the eyes of God in the quiet time. It is now that I see what my pity really is and the sources from which it springs.  

God is making room in my heart for compassion: the awareness that where my life begins is where your life begins; the awareness that … your needs cannot be separated from … my needs; the awareness that the joys of my heart are never mine alone—nor are my sorrows. I struggle against the work of God in my heart; I want to be let alone. I want my boundaries to remain fixed, that I may be at rest. But even now, as I turn to [God] in the quietness, [God’s] work in me is ever the same.  

God is at work enlarging the boundaries of my heart. [1] 

During a prison visit, public theologian Nadia Bolz-Weber rejects the temptation to view others with pity instead of compassion.  

I look those two young men in the eyes and think, I will not pity you. But I will, in this moment, see even just a fraction of your pain, and acknowledge how it is like mine and very much not like mine. 

In my mind, pity isn’t even analogous to compassion. Pity is just the paternalistic cousin of contempt. It allows us to see others as “those less fortunate than ourselves” (a term I loathe). Pity keeps the other person at a distance and me in a rarified state of satisfaction.… Compassion, on the other hand, draws us close. 

So no, I do not pity the men I met…. Like me and like you, they are complex human beings. They have experienced love I do not know about and have really great stories I will never hear…. So to “feel sorry” for them based solely on what little I now know of their stories is reductive…. 

This world will break your heart. There’s enough sorrow to go around and for everyone to have seconds. 

But this world has a thousand forms of medicine too. 

I’ve yet to find healing in: 
Self-pity, isolation, pretending I am not hurting, comparison, hardening myself, standing in judgment (although it sure feels good). 

But I have found it in: 
Eye contact with another person who is in a tender place, the rare moments I stop filling in the blank about another person, compassion toward myself and others, remaining open hearted in moments I want to shut down, … using my pain to see it in others rather than only in myself. [2] 

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Sarah Young; Jesus Calling

 I am involved in each moment of your life. I have carefully mapped out every inch of your journey through this day, even though much of it may feel haphazard. Because the world is in a fallen condition, things always seem to be unraveling around the edges. Expect to find trouble in this day. At the same time, trust that My way is perfect, even in the midst of such messy imperfection.
     Stay conscious of Me as you go through this day, remembering that I never leave your side. Let the Holy Spirit guide you step by step, protecting you from unnecessary trials and equipping you to get through whatever must be endured. As you trudge through the sludge of this fallen world, keep your mind in heavenly places with Me. Thus the Light of My Presence shines on you, giving you Peace and Joy that circumstances cannot touch.

RELATED BIBLE VERSES:

Psalm 18:30 (NLT)
30 God’s way is perfect.
    All the Lord’s promises prove true.
    He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 18:30: Some people think that belief in God is a crutch for weak people who cannot make it on their own. God is indeed a shield to protect us when we are too weak to face certain trials by ourselves, but he does not want us to remain weak. He strengthens, protects, and guides us in order to send us back into an evil world to fight for him. Then he continues to work with us because the strongest person on earth is infinitely weaker than God and needs his help. David was not a coward; he was a mighty warrior who, even with all his armies and weapons, knew that only God could ultimately protect and save him.
Isaiah 41:13 (NLT)
13 For I hold you by your right hand—
    I, the Lord your God.
And I say to you,
   ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.’

A Painful Conflict

Advocate Carl Siciliano recounts how relationship with his LGBTQ community has often placed him at odds with what Christian churches have taught:  

The love I discovered in God when I was younger was wild and boundless. But as I grew up and grew into my queerness, I had to reckon with some heavy questions. How could leaders of a religion devoted to a God of love vilify my community? Why must they value their dogmas over the lives of God’s queer children? How could the spiritual tradition that nurtured my early years of service be the very same entity that so recklessly brought devastation upon the young people in my care?  

Now an answer began to present itself: What if I was not meant to turn away from this conflict but in fact called upon to confront it? What if I was meant to witness the devastation inflicted on LGBT youths and use my voice for truth, to cry out that such cruelties are not the way of Christ?…

Thomas Merton wrote of an “eternal conflict” [1] within Christianity—a conflict between those who become self-righteous and judgmental of the sins of others and those who learn to humbly accept their essential unity with their fellow humans. I hope the Church will come to such humility and repent of the terrible harm it has done to queer people, especially queer children. I don’t know if I will live to see that. All I know is I cannot imagine how the harmful elements of the Church can be healed if I cannot uproot the rage and division in my own heart. I’m tired of being angry.  

Over three decades, Siciliano has supported LGBTQ youth suffering from addiction, rejection, and heartbreak. He witnesses their grief through his understanding of Christ’s death and resurrection:  

As a teenager, I longed to see the face of Christ with my own eyes. I spent many, many hours in prayer and meditation, desperate to catch a glimpse of my beloved God. That longing has changed. For I have seen the face of the crucified Christ, over and over again, for decades. I saw Christ when Cheri was choked with tears in the SafeSpace kitchen. I saw Christ when Ali sat with me in sorrow at the subway station, and when I looked into the stunned, grief-stricken eyes of KJ, Rashon, and so many other young people as they told me how it felt to be abandoned by family and sleep in the streets.  

For the better part of my life, I have looked upon the broken Christ, the Christ of the persecuted, the Christ bound to us in our desolation. Now my deepest yearning is to see the healing of their wounds, the binding up of what was broken, the wiping away of every tear, the “making all things well.”  

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Avoiding Sin Isn’t the Goal

We should not read Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 as a full view of the final judgment. In fact, we would be foolish to view any of his parables as complete theological treatments. They exist, in most cases, to make a single, surprising point about the topic at hand rather than a comprehensive argument. Therefore, it’s incorrect to assume that our care or neglect of the poor will be the only dimension of God’s judgment.Understanding that, we must not diminish the gravity of Jesus’ warning either. Notice that the “goats” on the King’s left side are condemned for their sins of omission rather than their sins of commission. Their guilt did not stem from what they did, but for what they failed to do. In many religious communities, people are preoccupied, even fixated, upon their transgressions (and especially the transgressions of others). As a result, they make the Christian life little more than a sin-avoidance program. The goal simply becomes not actively participating in evil. This is a very low bar. It’s like celebrating an Olympic swimmer for crossing the pool without drowning. In the parable just before the judgment of the sheep and goats, Jesus told of a “wicked” servant who buried his master’s talents (a sum of money) in the ground. He did not lose his master’s money, but he didn’t do anything productive with it either. The same theme is repeated in the King’s judgment of the goats. They are not condemned because they have committed evil acts, but because they have failed to commit good ones. Likewise, merely avoiding moral calamity is not what we are called to as Jesus’ disciples. Instead, we are to use the love and power he has graced us with for the blessing of others and the healing of his world. It is not the sins we are tempted to commit that ought to frighten us, but the acts of justice we are never inspired to attempt. DAILY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 25:31-46 MATTHEW 25:14-30 WEEKLY PRAYERFrom an African Christian O God, enlarge my heart that it may be big enough to receive the greatness of your love. Stretch my heart that it may take into it all those who with me around the world believe in Jesus Christ. Stretch it that it may take into it all those who do not know him, but who are my responsibility because I know him. And stretch it that it may take in all those who are not lovely in my eyes, and whose hands I do not want to touch; through Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.

One Source of Love

Yet before you can love your neighbor—your brother or sister—as yourself, you must first love yourself. And to first love yourself, you must know that God loves you now and loves you always.
—Archbishop Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream 

Richard Rohr connects our ability to love others with our ability to receive God’s love. 

Authentic love is of one piece. How we love anything is how we love everything. Jesus commands us to “Love our neighbors as we love ourselves,” and he connects the two great commandments of love of God and of neighbor, saying they are “like” one another (Matthew 22:39). So often, we think this means to love our neighbor with the same amount of love—as much as we love ourselves—when it really means that it is the same Source and the same Love that allows us to love ourselves, others, and God at the same time! That is unfortunately not the way most people understand love, compassion, and forgiveness—yet it is the only way they ever work.  

We cannot sincerely love another or forgive offenses inside of dualistic consciousness. Many pastors and priests have done the people of God a great disservice by preaching the gospel to them but not giving them the tools to live it out. As Jesus put it, “Cut off from the vine, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The “vine and the branches” offer one of the greatest Christian mystical images of the non-duality between God and the soul. In and with God, I can love everything and everyone—even my enemies. Alone and by myself, my willpower and intellect will seldom be able to love in difficult situations over time. Many folks try to love by willpower, with themselves as the only source. They try to obey the second commandment without the first. It never works long term. 

Finally, of course, there’s a straight line between love and suffering. If we love anyone or anything deeply and greatly, it’s fairly certain we’ll soon suffer because we have offered control to another, and the cost of self-giving will soon show itself. Undoubtedly, this is why we are told to be faithful in our loves, because such long-term loyalty and truly conscious love will always lead us to the necessary pruning (John 15:2) of the narcissistic self. 

Until we love and until we suffer, we all try to figure out life and death with our minds. Then a Larger Source opens up within us and we “think” and feel quite differently through “knowing the Love, which is beyond all knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19). Thus, Jesus would naturally say something like, “This is my commandment: you must love one another!” (John 13:34). Authentic love (which is always more than an emotion) initially opens the door of awareness and aliveness, and then suffering for that love keeps that door open for mind, body, and will to enter. I suspect for most of us that is the work of a lifetime. 

Knowing Our Neighbors

Rabbi Sharon Brous draws on her Jewish tradition to name the dignity of every human being.   

[A] Rabbinic text … from the ninth century declares that every person is accompanied, at all times, by a procession of angels crying out, “Make way, for an image of the Holy One is approaching!” Every person, like royalty. And yet, again and again, the image of the Holy One is controlled and contained, humiliated and degraded, incarcerated and incapacitated, shot and killed before our very eyes. How do we keep missing all those angels, with their trumpets and proclamations, desperate to rouse us to the dignity of every human being? 

The call to awaken to the image of God, to the dignity of every person, has been the driving force of my religious life, the very heart of my faith…. What would it mean to build a society in which every person is treated as an image of the Divine? How would this affect our relationships with our neighbors, our coworkers, the stranger lying beneath the stained blankets and trash outside Starbucks? Wouldn’t it compel us to recast the cultures of our schools, organizations, and faith communities? How would it impact health care, education, public policy?… How would it transform law enforcement and criminal justice systems—where today judgment is too often rendered based on whether a person is Black or white, rich or poor, rather than guilty or innocent? 

Brous shares a story illustrating how nearness and neighborliness lead to loving action: 

My friend goes to a church of Caribbean immigrants in downtown Los Angeles. One day his pastor preached: Say you’re walking in downtown LA, or Chicago, or New York. A naked man runs in front of you on the sidewalk, screaming and cursing. What do you do? Most of us, of course, briskly cross the street. That guy’s unwell, we think.  

But say you live in a tiny town of maybe fifty households. You’re walking around one day when a naked man runs in front of you on the sidewalk, screaming and cursing. And because you live in a tiny town, you know this man … it’s Henry. Last week, you just happen to know, there was a terrible tragedy, and fire burned Henry’s house to the ground, leaving him with nothing. What do you do?  

“Henry,” you say, “come with me, friend. You need a warm meal and a safe place to stay.”  

What does it take to shift our collective consciousness from stranger who is unwell to Henry, my neighbor, created in God’s own image?… 

The challenge is to imagine a fundamentally different reality: a world in which we recognize and fight for each other’s dignity. A world in which we … train our hearts to see even the people others might render invisible. A world in which we recognize that we—images of the Divine—are all bound up in the bond of life with one another. And our hardest and holiest work is not to look away.

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The Danger of a Dis-Integrated Life

In Jesus’ description of the final judgment in Matthew 25, we often overlook a startling detail. Jesus said the King will judge all people by how they treated him when he was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison. Both the righteous and the wicked, however, respond the same way: “Lord, when did we see you hungry…thirsty…a stranger…naked…sick or in prison?” Jesus answered both groups the same way, “I say to you, as you did [or did not do] to one of the least of these you did [or did not do] it to me.” Here’s the surprising and important detail—it is clear from the story that the righteous showed compassion and kindness without knowingthey were serving Jesus. It wasn’t like the righteous were in on the secret and the wicked were not. The righteous did not offer food, drink, clothing, or medicine to strangers because they knew each person was Jesus incognito. That raises a critical question: Why did the righteous show kindness if they weren’t doing it to earn points on God’s final exam?The answer is that they lived integrated lives. The righteous do not segment their lives into categories of “sacred” and “ordinary;” they do not view some activities or people as important to God and others as unimportant. They do not limit their devotion to Sunday morning or the confines of a church or cathedral. Their love for God flows into all aspects of their lives, including how they see and act toward strangers. Justice marks all of their relationships. There is no indication in Jesus’ story that the “goats” whom he casts away were irreligious or followers of bad theology. Their great error was that they kept their devotion to God within the neat boundaries of religious activity. Their commitment to Christ was disconnected from the other parts of their existence. Therefore, when they encountered the hungry, sick, and poor in the ordinary course of life their faith had no role to play.The question Matthew 25 ought to provoke is this: How has your devotion to Christ and commitment to kingdom justice been integrated into every aspect of your life, or do you prefer to keep religion at church? DAILY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 25:31-46 PROVERBS 19:17 1 JOHN 3:17-18 WEEKLY PRAYERFrom an African ChristianO God, enlarge my heart that it may be big enough to receive the greatness of your love. Stretch my heart that it may take into it all those who with me around the world believe in Jesus Christ. Stretch it that it may take into it all those who do not know him, but who are my responsibility because I know him. And stretch it that it may take in all those who are not lovely in my eyes, and whose hands I do not want to touch; through Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.

Father Richard describes how we can grow in our love for God, others, and ourselves: 

The God Jesus incarnates and embodies is not a distant God that must be placated. Jesus’ God is not sitting on some throne demanding worship and throwing down thunderbolts like Zeus. Jesus never said, “Worship me.” He said, “Follow me.” He asks us to imitate him in his own journey of full incarnation. To do so, he gives us the two great commandments: (1) Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength; and (2) Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28–31; Luke 10:25–28). In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29–37), Jesus shows us that our “neighbor” even includes our “enemy.” 

So how do we love God? Many of us seem to have concluded that we love God by attending church services. For some reason, we think that makes God happy, but I’m not sure why. Jesus never talked about attending services, although church can be a good container to begin with. I believe our inability to recognize and love God in what is right in front of us has allowed us to separate religion from our actual lives. There is Sunday morning, and then there is real life. 

The only way I know how to teach anyone to love God, and how I myself seek to love God, is to love what God loves, which is everything and everyone, including you and including me! “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). “If we love one another, God remains in us, and God’s love is brought to perfection in us” (1 John 4:12). Then we love with God’s infinite love that can always flow through us. We’re able to love people and things for themselves and in themselves—and not for what they do for us. That takes both work and surrender. As we get ourselves out of the way, there is a slow but real expansion of consciousness. We’re not the central reference point anymore. We love in greater and greater circles until we can finally do what Jesus did: love and forgive even our enemies. 

Most of us were given the impression that we had to be totally selfless, and when we couldn’t achieve that, many of us gave up altogether. One of John Duns Scotus’ most helpful teachings is that Christian morality at its best seeks “a harmony of goodness.” [1] We harmonize and balance necessary self-care with a constant expansion beyond ourselves to loving others. This is brilliant! It’s both simple and elegant, showing us how to love our neighbor as our self. Imagining and working toward this harmony keeps us from seeking impossible, private, and heroic ideals. Now the possibility of love is potentially right in front of us and always concrete. Love is no longer a theory or a heroic ideal. Love is seeking the good of as many as possible.  

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Who Are Jesus’ “Brothers”?

Few topics make modern people more uncomfortable than judgment. There is a false narrative that judgment is something people did in the past, but today we’ve grown more tolerant and accepting—other than religious people who would prefer to remain in the past. This is, of course, nonsense. Every society judges. What is today’s “cancel culture” if not an updated version of religious ex-communication perpetually judging what voices, people, and ideas are acceptable and which are to be condemned? The ubiquity of judgment, although often misguided and destructive, is rooted in the admirable human desire for justice. We want good praised and evil punished. We want victory for victims and villains vanquished. While we may have glimpses of justice now, Jesus promises true and final justice will come with his kingdom.In Matthew 25 Jesus compared the final judgment with a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats in his herd. Some have tried to find significance in the imagery of the animals, but that is a case of over-interpreting the metaphor. In ancient Israel, goats were not viewed negatively and were often herded together with sheep. Goats were even identified as an acceptable sacrifice for the Passover lamb (see Exodus 12:5). The emphasis of Jesus’ metaphor is not on the nature of sheep or goats but on the eventual separation of two groups. Much like the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), the righteous and unrighteous, the just and the unjust, are allowed to coexist until the end of the age when they are finally identified and separated at the judgment. The basis for their separation is ultimately how they acted toward “the least of these my brothers” (25:40).Who are these “brothers” Jesus refers to? The entire meaning of the parable hangs on that question, and there has been much debate over the correct reading. Some argue that Jesus’ was speaking of his disciples. He uses similar language in Matthew 10:40-42, but that is a text about mission and not the final judgment. There are many more instances in Matthew where Jesus uses the word brothers without referring to his disciples. Furthermore, there is no support elsewhere in Scripture that the final judgment will be determined solely by how the world serves or neglects Christians, or that Christians will be exempt from judgment as this interpretation would imply. Finally, when the judgment is repeated for the “goats” in verse 45, Jesus does not include the word brothers but only speaks of “the least of these.”For these reasons—and numerous others—the most common view has always been that Jesus’ “brothers” in the story refers generally to people in need who’ve been neglected by the world, and those who are declared righteous are the ones who showed compassion. As we find throughout the Bible, in Matthew 25 we see personal righteousness (our standing before God) being inexorably linked to social righteousness (how we have cared for those mistreated by the world). With this important matter of interpretation in hand, we will explore the scene in more depth in the days ahead. Until then, consider who in your community Jesus would identify as his “brothers.” DAILY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 25:31-46 JAMES 2:14-17 WEEKLY PRAYER From an African Christian O God, enlarge my heart that it may be big enough to receive the greatness of your love. Stretch my heart that it may take into it all those who with me around the world believe in Jesus Christ. Stretch it that it may take into it all those who do not know him, but who are my responsibility because I know him. And stretch it that it may take in all those who are not lovely in my eyes, and whose hands I do not want to touch; through Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.

Father Richard reflects on how the Spirit’s presence can transform our lives and institutions:  

Without a conscious living in the flow of the Spirit—through us, within us, and for us—and those are the three movements—I think prayer can become merely functional. But if we live within that flow, prayer can become an experience of mystical communion. There is no problem to be solved; it’s simply enjoying what is, learning how to taste it, learning how to receive it, learning how to see God in it, and knowing that this now—whatever it is—is enough.    

When that flow is not there, church becomes overly problem-solving and practical. Sacraments without the Spirit become strategic. They become something we feel obligated to attend or belong to in order to go to heaven. Church becomes about paying fire insurance dues. We don’t really want to be there, but we go along for the ride in case the whole thing just happens to be true. I know this might be shocking to say and hear, but this kind of church deserves to die. There’s no life to it; there’s no future to it. It is not of the Spirit. It is precisely a blocking of the Spirit, but it’s disguised as if it’s spiritual.    

Outside of the Spirit, reading the Bible can also become nothing more than ego ammunition. Without the Spirit, Bible study does not lead to divine intimacy and union; rather, it can lead to self-sufficiency and confirmation about why we’re right. Instead of leading us to God, it becomes a way for us to protect ourselves and to judge and diminish other people. But when we read the scriptures inside of the energy and flow of the Spirit, the stories themselves reveal a thousand confirmations of that very pattern—people allowing the flow, people resisting and opposing the flow, and sometimes, finally being swept up by it. They become models for us that allowing the flow of the Spirit leads to new life.  

Outside of the Spirit, authority becomes domination. Inside of the Spirit, authority becomes service. Outside of the Spirit, politics becomes control. Inside of the Spirit, leadership is something we know is given to us to offer to others: not authority over people but authority to call forth the presence of God within so they can be in the same flow and enjoy the same freedom. 

I think the simplest way to discern the presence of the Spirit is to look for where there is unity, where there’s movement toward reconciliation, for two becoming one, for enemies becoming friends. The Spirit self has no need to think of itself as better than anyone. We just live with an energy and aliveness that Paul called the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). Our job is simply to stay inside the flow of the Spirit which is love.  

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John Chaffee 5 For Friday………Jesus Was a Troublemaker

1.

“Yeshua was a troublemaker.”

– James Cone, Methodist Minister and Theologian

This may not come as a shock to some of you, but Jesus was a troublemaker.  He stood in the same lineage of the prophets and spoke hopeful critiques of the status quo of his day.

However, sometimes we think that Jesus was a troublemaker toward those outside of the religious sphere.  The problem is that he was not violent, did not overthrow the Roman oppressors of his day, and try to establish himself as a new emporer or pharaoh.

Rather, Jesus was quite a troublemaker WITHIN the religious sphere.  He challenged the special seats, those with impressive titles, the class systems of the Temple, what defined ritual vs spiritual cleanliness, and so much more.

Jesus was a troublemaker because he upended the religious paradigm from within itself while staying true to the roots of his tradition: Judaism.  In many ways, he was such a radical and faithful Jew that it gave him a target on his back from the religious leadership of his Jewish tradition.

It is then ratcheted up to an even higher degree when we contemplate the Christian tenet that Jesus was God incarnate, and it was God himself who was upending religious paradigms from within!

This earnestly makes me question what kinds of things God would be willing to overturn today within the religious sphere.

2.

“The only thing that matters is you getting better at your craft.”

– Jerry Seinfeld, American Comedian

This past week, as I contemplated my work in the world, this insight from Jerry Seinfeld spoke to me.

Some may like what I do, some may not.  I cannot control that perception of my work and certainly cannot persuade someone to like it if they don’t.

The only thing we can do is focus on what we are here to do and dive deep into that task, so deep that we cannot be bothered with outcomes or approval.

The only thing that matters is doing what we are here to do.

3.

“I am neither of the East nor of the West, no boundaries exist within my breast.”

– Rumi, Sufi Mystic and Poet

Rumi has spoken to me for a while.  Ever since the Philly band mewithoutYou introduced him to me through their lyrics, his poetry has been something  I return to frequently.

There is so much division within the world because there is so much division within ourselves.  We love to separate or divide.  We think it is a mark of maturity or intellect or holier-than-thou-ness to hold ourselves in differentiation from people and things.

But what if the world peace we are all looking for, hoping for, and praying for is a personal issue?  What if external wars end because we have learned how to reconcile the internal wars within each of us?  What if the solution to our loneliness is solidarity with those around us?

What would happen if we lived lives that had “no boundaries” at all?  Is it possible we might start seeing everything as connected?  Is it possible we could see how we are all already in this together if we just stopped to realize it?  Are we not all on the same team?  Are we not wanderers each walking one another home?

4.

“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

– 1 Corinthians 15:22

The ratio is 1:Infinity.  As all die, all will be made alive.

The First Adam’s capacity for chaos is eclipsed by the Second Adam’s ability to redeem.

5.

“Love and do what you will.”

– St. Augustine of Hippo, 4th Century Philosopher and Theologian

This is both easy and difficult to grasp.  Within the Christian faith, there is a constant dialogue/struggle between obedience and freedom.

However, obedience is not slavery and freedom is not anarchy.  Freedom without any purpose or guardrails is chaos.  Freedom must be governed by something or else it can devolve into disconnected, unbounded, wildness.

That said, if Love is present, then Love redefines obedience and freedom.  The one who Loves will not seek anything that causes hurt or harm to someone else, it will not allow us to use and abuse one another, Love is the fulfillment of the Law.

Author Lisa Sharon Harper describes the diversity of the early church: 

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit rushed in and caused all those present to speak in languages that were not their own. Each person understood the others…. God established the confusion between languages at the Tower of Babel (see Genesis 11). At Pentecost, God brought the languages together, but not in the way we would imagine. God did not unite the world under one imperial language. Rather, the power of God made it possible to have unity in the midst of diversity. God made it possible for people to speak languages that were not their own and to understand one another.   

And in the same way Jesus had broken gender and class barriers, this multiethnic, multilingual group turned its back on misogyny and economic favoritism. Peter [quoting Joel 3:1–2] explained to the crowd why women and slaves were prophesying along with free men:   

In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy (Acts 2:17–18)….   

In other words, all the cultural, economic, and gender barriers between them were broken down. [1]   

Theologian Luke Powery names how the Holy Spirit’s presence is given for all, not just some: 

Pentecost shows that the Spirit loves us so much that she wants to get inside of us, dwell in us, and commune with us in a bond of love. This divine outpouring is love for each person. The Spirit honors the bodies of all people—young, old, male, female, all human beings throughout the world.… The Spirit is an equalizer and holy resister to racism and racial hierarchical systems.  

That the Spirit fills all and rests on all, not just some bodies … provides an opportunity for those deemed nonhuman to reclaim their humanity in God. Pentecost shows us that the spiritual is linked to the material, and thus that all human bodies matter to the life of faith. The glory of God is revealed through all human flesh and is the “sign of special favor from the spirit.” [2] At Pentecost, each body and ethnicity is affirmed as sacred and of worth, a human being loved by God.… 

No human voice or body is denied the presence and fire of God. Humans, regardless of ethnicity or race, speak a multiplicity of languages to reveal the diversity of God from the beginning, which is the vision of the end….  

Pentecost … creates a new world. It is a new creation ignited by the Spirit. The Spirit may be “unsought” or “unwanted” but is “intent on making all things new.” [3] This includes new flesh, a new body for the people of God. [4] 

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

 I, the Creator of the universe, am with you and for you. What more could you need? When you feel some lack, it is because you are not connecting with Me at a deep level. I offer abundant Life; your part is to trust Me, refusing to worry about anything.
     It is not so much adverse events that make you anxious as it is your thoughts about these events. Your mind engages in efforts to take control of a situation, to bring about the result you desire. Your thoughts close in on the problem like ravenous wolves. Determined to make things go your way, you forget that I am in charge of your life. The only remedy is to switch your focus from the problem to My Presence. Stop all your striving, and watch to see what I will do. I am the Lord!

RELATED BIBLE VERSES:

Romans 8:31-32 NLT
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

Additional insight regarding Romans 8:31-34: Do you ever think that because you aren’t good enough for God, he will not save you? Do you ever feel as if salvation is for everyone else but you? Then, these verses are especially for you. If God gave his Son for you, he isn’t going to hold back the gift of salvation! If Christ gave his life for you, he isn’t going to turn around and condemn you! He will not withhold anything you need to live for him. The book of Romans is more than a theological explanation of God’s redeeming grace – it is a letter of comfort and confidence addressed to you.

Micah 7:7 NLT
7 As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.

Additional insight regarding Micah 7:7-10: Micah showed great faith in God both personally (7:7) and on Israel’s behalf (7:8-10) as he proclaimed that (1) he would wait upon God because God hears and saves when help is needed, (2) God would bring his people through when times were tough, (3) Israel must be patient in punishment because God would bring them out of the darkness, and (4) their enemies would be punished. We, too, can have a relationship with God that can allow us to have confidence like Micah’s. It doesn’t take unusual talent; it simply takes faith in God and a willingness to act on that faith.

Today’s Prayer: Lord, You, the Creator of the universe, are with me and for me. What more do I need? When I feel lacking, it’s because I’m not deeply connecting with You. You offer abundant Life; help me to trust You and refuse worry. It’s not the events but my thoughts about them that cause anxiety. My mind tries to control outcomes, forgetting You are in charge. Help me shift my focus from the problem to Your Presence. Help me to stop my striving, and let me watch what You will do in awe and amazement. Amen.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Brian McLaren reflects on the Holy Spirit’s work in the early church and today:  

Following Jesus today has much in common with the original disciples’ experience…. But there is an obvious and major difference between our experience and theirs: they could see Jesus and we can’t. Surprisingly, according to John’s Gospel, that gives us an advantage. “It’s better that I go away so the Spirit can come,” Jesus said [John 16:7]. If he were physically present and visible, our focus would be on Christ over there, right there, out there … but because of his absence, we discover the Spirit of Christ right here, in here, within….  

At the core of Jesus’ life and message, then, was this good news: the Spirit of God, the Spirit of aliveness, the Wind-breath-fire-cloud-water-wine-dove Spirit who filled Jesus is on the move in our world. And that gives us a choice: do we dig in our heels, clench our fists, and live for our own agenda, or do we let go, let be, and let come … and so be taken up into the Spirit’s movement? [1]  

Theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim urges Christians to be open to the Spirit’s life-giving movement: 

The Holy Spirit makes us “spiritually” alive. It inspires and strengthens us and gives us aspirations, inspirations, and intuitions. It opens us to new truths and enables us to integrate these truths into our minds and lives…. We want the Spirit to open us to its presence so we may be transformed. We believe that this openness to God’s transforming presence will make us truly alive. [2] 

We must be guided by the Spirit in all that we do. We work with the movement of the Spirit as wind, light, and breath to change us and empower us to be agents of change.  

When the Spirit fills our lives, we follow the rhythm of the Spirit. We are guided by the Spirit to become new creatures and become agents of change. We become workers in the Spirit and for the Spirit….  

The love of the Spirit will empower us to work for God: to generate justice, be merciful, and fill the world with God’s love…. As we experience God’s presence, we each contribute to the building of the reign of God here on Earth. It is a task that calls all of us. 

We recognize that this Spirit transforms us to become the best that we can be by our love. Love is the force that challenges us to move towards justice and wholeness. [3]  

Brian concludes: 

In a world full of big challenges, in a time like ours, we can’t settle for a heavy and fixed religion. We can’t try to contain the Spirit in a box. We need to experience the mighty rushing wind of Pentecost. We need our hearts to be made incandescent by the Spirit’s fire. We need the living water and new wine Jesus promised, so our hearts can become the home of dovelike peace. [4] 

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Spinning Our Vices into Virtues

When a man asked Jesus to side with him in a family dispute over inheritance, he flatly refused. Instead, he told the man and the crowd a parable about a rich landowner with an abundant harvest. “What shall I do?” the rich man thought to himself. “ I have no place to store my crops.” In the story, the man decided to build larger barns to keep his great harvest. Satisfied with his plan the man thought to himself, “I have plenty of grain for many years. I will relax; eat, drink, and be merry.” Why did Jesus choose to tell this story to the man wanting his brother to share the inheritance? After all, the man had come to Jesus with a request for justice. He wanted Jesus to settle a family dispute. Beneath the surface, however, Jesus saw something else at work. He recognized the dangerous sins of greed and covetousness in the man’s heart. The man was merely using a desire for justice as a cover for his desire for wealth.In this, he is not alone. Many of us mask our sinful intent with a veil of righteousness and even religiosity. Knowing our true intentions are less than noble, we dress them up in a disguise that makes us more acceptable to others and to ourselves. Eugene Peterson said it this way, “There is nothing more common among those of us who hang out in the company of men and women who follow Jesus than using what everyone agrees is a good thing and essential to the kingdom of God to disguise our sin.”What does this look like? Well, it can take many forms. Arrogance and pride are vices most Christians would frown upon, but these can be easily rebranded as “effective leadership” or “theological conviction” and applauded by Christians. Doing this flips a sinful vice into a spiritual virtue. Likewise, we can spin gluttony as “self-care,” we can justify abusive leaders as just “passionate for the mission,” and reframe gossip as a commitment to “expose the truth.” The examples are endless, but they all show how we will go to extraordinary lengths to hide our sin—especially from ourselves. This was Jesus’ issue with the man asking him to intervene in a family dispute. On the surface, he appeared to be concerned with justice and family fairness, but Jesus was able to discern his heart. There he saw greed that even the man himself may not have recognized. Like him, we should present to Jesus our requests. In fact, Jesus commands us to, but we shouldn’t be surprised when he then exposes layers of motivations, desires, and even sins that we had no idea were within us. Our capacity for self-deception is limitless. Thankfully, so is Jesus’ capacity for grace. DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 12:13-21  1 TIMOTHY 6:6-11  HEBREWS 4:12-13WEEKLY PRAYERFrom John Baillie (1886 – 1960) God, let me put right before interest, Let me put others before self, Let me put the things of the spirit before the things of the body. Let me put the attainment of noble ends above the enjoyment of present pleasures. Let me put principle above reputation. Let me put you before all else. Amen.

Religious historian Diana Butler Bass describes the intimate relationship between Jesus and the Spirit: 

The Spirit empowers Jesus to be continually present in the world, and, it must be admitted, the same Spirit has been fully at work since creation…. Indeed, God’s Spirit conceives Jesus, initiates his public ministry, and sustains his spiritual life. The Spirit is the driving force, the animating creative life of the entire cosmos, responsible, in particular, for the vision of those in human history most attuned to the heartbeat of God. Even the apostle Peter recognized this as he preached to the Gentiles: “You know … how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed … for God was with him” (Acts 10:36–38).  

To separate Jesus from the Spirit is nearly impossible. Jesus would not exist without the Spirit; Jesus would have been a humble tradesperson sans Spirit; Jesus would not be a continuing presence if not for the Spirit. Christian theology has typically privileged knowledge about Jesus as the way to know the Spirit, but the Christian life works the opposite way. We cannot know Jesus without the Spirit.  

In the scriptures, the Spirit is called the ruach, pneuma, and the shekhinah, the “wind,” the “breath,” and the “dwelling.” [1] Theologian Marjorie Suchocki refers to these as God’s power, wisdom, and presence. Those three things are the heart of redemption, of experiencing the full life God intends for all:  

God as presence answers alienation and loneliness with love; God as wisdom answers the loss of time with trust; God as power answers injustice with empowering hope. This vision of a redemptive God of presence, wisdom, and power comes from the biblical revelation of God’s presence in Jesus of Nazareth, named the Christ. [2]  

When Jesus is understood in relationship with Spirit as presence, wisdom, and power, we can experience Jesus as a dynamic figure, one related to God’s mysterious activity and one who dwells with us, always present.  

Butler Bass shares how Jesus’ Jewish followers might have understood his connection to the Spirit:  

Jesus, as a Jew, would have been familiar with the idea of shekhinah, the presence of God dwelling with the world. As Amy-Jill Levine says, “Judaism has the idea of the Shekinah, the feminine presence of God descending to earth and dwelling among human beings.” [3]…

Was that not how Jesus’s first followers experienced him?… As a person inhabited by shekhinah? That he somehow was the dwelling place of God, and that there was no real conflict in the mind of his brother and sister Jews between bearing the mystery of the sacred and being fully human? And if that is who he was, is that who he still is? The presence, the wisdom, the divine dwelling with us, the feminine spirit, here and now?  

Jesus Is Not On Your Side

Jesus was prompted to tell another parable when a man in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” At that time it was not uncommon for rabbis to settle disputes within families or villages, but Jesus responded emphatically. “Man, who made me judge or arbitrator over you?” Why did Jesus reject this man’s request for help? Why wouldn’t Jesus, who possessed divine wisdom and authority, judge between the brothers?It is important to recognize the form of the man’s request. He did not ask Jesus for help dividing his dead father’s estate. Instead, he asked Jesus to side with him against his brother. In the man’s mind, innocence and guilt were already established. He was right and his brother was wrong. The man merely wanted to use Jesus as leverage against his brother, and Jesus would have none of it. The impulse to employ Jesus as a weapon against those we disagree with remains common today in our personal relationships, theological debates, and politics. Declaring, “I think you’re wrong and so does Jesus!” is a defensive move that excuses me from doing the uncomfortable work of self-examination. It quickly shuts down the inconvenient possibility that I may be in error, or that my own perspective may be warped in some way. It also prevents me from empathizing with my opponent or recognizing any element of truth in his position. Simply put, if God agrees with me then I never have to change.Such arrogance and certainty are antithetical to the Christian life. Instead, Jesus calls us to acknowledge the log in our own eye rather than the speck in our brother’s. And God promises his grace to the humble who confess their wrongs, not to the arrogant who can see no fault in themselves. In fact, God promises to oppose the proud just as Jesus opposed the man wanting to use him against his brother.Like that man, we often want Jesus to join our campaign, bless our agenda, or defend our position, but are we seeking to be instruments of God’s will or merely seeking to make him an instrument of ours? As Abraham Lincoln said when asked if God was on the side of the North in the Civil War, “Sir, my great concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 12:13-21  JOSHUA 5:13-15  ROMANS 12:1-2 WEEKLY PRAYERFrom John Baillie (1886 – 1960) God, let me put right before interest, Let me put others before self, Let me put the things of the spirit before the things of the body. Let me put the attainment of noble ends above the enjoyment of present pleasures. Let me put principle above reputation. Let me put you before all else. Amen.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
—Acts 2:1–4  

In this Pentecost homily, Father Richard Rohr encourages Christians to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit, a gift God has already given us!  

It’s a shame that the Holy Spirit tends to be an afterthought for many Christians. We don’t really “have the Spirit.” We tend, I’m afraid, to simply go through the motions. We formally believe, but honestly, there isn’t much fire to it. There isn’t much conviction. There isn’t much service. We just sort of believe. That’s why in the Gospels there are two clearly distinguished baptisms. There’s the baptism with water that most of us are used to, and then there’s the baptism “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11); that’s the one that really matters.  

The water baptism that many of us received as children demands little conviction or understanding. Some parents simply do it to make their parents or grandparents happy. Until this baptism by water becomes real, until we know Jesus, and we rely on Jesus, call upon Jesus, share and love Jesus, we’re just going along for the ride.  

We can recognize people who have had a second baptism in the Holy Spirit. They tend to be loving. They tend to be exciting. They want to serve others, and not just be served themselves. They forgive life itself for not being everything they once hoped for. They forgive their neighbors. They forgive themselves for not being as perfect as they would like to be.  

Even though we so often pray, “Come, Holy Spirit,” the gift of the Spirit is already given. The Holy Spirit has already come. We all are temples of the Holy Spirit, equally, objectively, and forever! The only difference is the degree that we know it, draw upon it, and consciously believe it. All the scriptural images of the Spirit are dynamic—flowing water, descending dove or fire, and rushing wind. If there’s never any movement, energy, excitement, deep love, service, forgiveness, or surrender, we can be pretty sure we aren’t living out of the Spirit. If our whole lives are just going through the motions, if there’s never any deep conviction, we aren’t connected to the Spirit. We would do well to fan into flame the gift that we already have.  

God doesn’t give God’s Spirit to those of us who are worthy, because none of us are worthy. God gives God’s Spirit in this awakened way to those who want it. On this Feast of Pentecost, quite simply, want it! Rely upon it. Know that it has already been given.   

Welcome the Holy Spirit

In an early book, Richard Rohr names the ability to love as the essential gift of the Holy Spirit: 

At the end of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells his followers, “Stay in Jerusalem until you are covered by the power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The disciples remained as they were told until the Spirit descends upon the gathered community on the feast of Pentecost. Suddenly, there is a new vitality in the Church, a new source of power and love. Just as Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit, now the followers of Jesus are empowered by the same Spirit. 

By living in the Spirit, Jesus’ disciples can do what God does. Or as Jesus puts it, “Be compassionate, just the way your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36). It is by the power of the Spirit that they follow Jesus’ alternative way:  

Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you; pray for those who treat you badly. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer your other cheek. If someone takes your coat, let them take your shirt as well. Treat others the way you want them to treat you (Luke 6:27–30).  

The gift of the Spirit is God’s own power to love unconditionally—and to transform the world by that power. 

This gift of knowing the Spirit, of being able to love as God does, is the same gift we need today. We see the world on the brink of destruction, yet we are too often apathetic about it. We hear of wars and famines, yet we choose to ignore them. We watch the earth degrade around us, and we simply adjust our thermostats. Too many of us just want to be left alone, not bothered by someone else—not even God—making demands on us. All of this is evidence of something missing in our lives, and reveals that we do not really know the Holy Spirit. 

The Spirit is always a gratuitous gift. It’s always an unmerited favor. It’s always pure grace. Like wind, it cannot be seen. Like smoke, it cannot be controlled. The Spirit is elusive, blowing where it wills. Yet like fire, the Spirit can be felt. The Spirit is experienced as the warmth of God’s love. And like blood, it is experienced as an inner vitality. The Spirit is supremely intimate, yet supremely transcendent. 

To enter into relationship with the risen Christ, we have to let go of ourselves, surrender control of our lives, and let the Spirit be given to us. We think that we might lose our individuality, yet surrendering to God actually increases it. For once in our lives, we’re truly free to become ourselves rather than what others want us to be. The highest form of self-possession is the capacity to give ourselves away. By giving ourselves completely to God, we come to be possessed by God and in full possession of ourselves at the same time.   

Stolen, Starved, and Choked

We’ve already looked at how in Jesus’ parable the same seed is cast upon different soils, which means the same potential of life in the kingdom is given to all kinds of people. The wildly different outcomes in the story are not a result of different seeds, but instead the types of soil that receive it. In each case, apart from the good soil, some external force interrupts and prevents the seed from following its natural course to bear fruit.The seed that falls on the path is stolen by birds, the seed on the rocky ground is starved by lack of soil, and the seed among thorns is choked to death. What makes the good soil “good” is the fact that it is just soil—no birds, no rocks, no thorns. There’s nothing to get in the way of the seeds’ growth. This draws our attention to the truth that God’s kingdom represents the natural way things ought to be, and that it is the addition and interference of evil that prevents its growth.Very often we assume a fruitful life with God requires the addition of devices or activities. More church programs, more Bible studies, more spiritual disciplines, or more elaborate systems of religious observance. There are times when addition is certainly necessary, just as a seed can benefit from the addition of fertilizer or water. But we mustn’t underestimate the importance of subtraction in spiritual formation either.A flourishing life with God often requires the removal of obstructions that block our vision of his goodness or entangle us in the thorns of sin. I am increasingly convinced that the greatest hindrance to my life with God is my phone. Putting this device aside regularly, removing its nagging notifications, and shutting off the comforting distraction of social media opens me to things essential to a life with God—self-awareness, connection with others, and prayer. In some ways, my phone interferes with and interrupts the growth of God’s kingdom in me and through me.What is getting in the way of your spiritual growth? What do you need less of in your life in order to experience more of God? DAILY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 13:1-9  MATTHEW 13:18-23  HEBREWS 12:1-2 WEEKLY PRAYERC. Eric Lincoln (1924 – 2000) Lord, let me love, though love may be the losing of every earthly treasure I possess. Lord, make your love the pattern of my choosing. And let your will dictate my happiness. I have no wish to wield the sword of power, and I want no man to leap at my command; nor let my critics feel constrained to cower for fear of some reprisal at my hand. Lord, let me love the lowly and the humble, forgetting not the mighty and the strong; and give me grace to love those who may stumble, nor let me seek to judge of right or wrong. Lord, let my parish be the world unbounded, let love of race and clan be at an end. Let every hateful doctrine be confounded that interdicts the love of friend for friend. Amen.