Friday 14 August 2015

Embracing Messiness


Scripture:

Jesus prays, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” 
John 17:15

Observation:

Jesus is clear: his prayer for his followers is not to be withdrawn from the world; neither, are we to be subject to the powers of the evil one.

Application:

I got my hair cut today by a woman I had never met before. During the inevitable small talk that happens, she asked, "What do you do for work?" I replied, "I am a pastor." ... Cue awkward silence.

I could tell she was confused and wanting to ask me some questions, but I wasn't sure from whence came her confusion. Thankfully, she was brave enough to re-open the conversation. "So, do you have to follow any special rules?" To that I replied, "I'm not sure what you mean by 'special'?"  
She answered, "Well, like, I thought you weren't supposed to drink or like, have sex?"

Bingo! She was confused about how I could be a pastor when I had already told her that I was married and had three children. This is not the first time I have run into someone who clearly does not have a lot of real experience with God's actual church - you know, normal, fleshly-spiritual, people.

There is a vaguely held assumption that hangs in the air of our post-Christendom society about how God is absent and aloof from creation (if God exists at all). This notion is then projected onto Christians - especially those in positions of servant-leadership. To be a follower of God must mean to reject and avoid the carnal messiness of this life.

The problem with that understanding of what it means to belong to God through the powerful sacrificial example of Jesus Christ by the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit is that it ain't biblical and its actually downright heretical.

One of the oldest competing faith claims from which Christians have sensed the need to distinguish their own faith from the very earliest years of The Way was and is called Gnosticism. At its root, Gnosticism says, 
"Matter, darkness, flesh, sensuality = Bad; while spirit, light, reason, objectivity = Divine."

But, Jesus prays, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” 
I guess that shouldn't surprise us, since Jesus refuted the tenets of gnosticism not by objective argument, but through his very being - which held together the fleshly and the divine.  
In this God-man, God chose to reveal the Divine presence in and solidarity with all of creation.

So, are there special rules we disciples have to follow? You bet! But they are not as simple as swearing off beer or sex.
[Can I get an amen! ; P ]
Rather, we are to seek out God's presence - transcendent and immanent - and submit ourselves to the Divine. How do we do this? Well, it seems to me that we are to hold together two divergent but necessary disciplines: 
i) Celebration/exultation/worship; and, ii) self-limitation/service/giving away ourselves.

Prayer:

Holy Three In One, thank you for beer! It gladdens the heart, puts problems in perspective and aids digestion. Yet, we confess, that like all Your good things, we have a tendency to lift them up as idols. When we do that, we get confused. We lose sight of You and our relationships with You and with each other get damaged.
Thank you for choosing to keep Your eyes on us even when we lose sight of you. And, help us to share the amazing news of Your all-pervasive presence and gracious love. Amen.

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