Possession is 9/10 of the law.

Of Lustful Thoughts

 - The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis

"Whenever a man desires something he does not have, he immediately becomes restless.  

The proud and greedy are never at rest, while the poor and humble of heart abide in peace.  

The person who is not yet wholly dead to self is easily temped and overcome by small matters.  It is hard for the one who is weak in spirit and still partly carnal and inclined to the pleasures of the senses to withdraw himself altogether from earthly desires.  And therefore, when he withdraws himself from these, he is often sad and easily angered if anyone opposes his will.

But if, on the other hand, he yields to his desire, immediately he is weighed down by the condemnation of his conscience, for he has followed his own desire and yet in no way attained the peace he hoped for.  For true peace of heart is to be found in resisting temptation, not in yielding to it.  Therefore there is no peace in the heart of a person who is carnal, but only in one who is fervent toward God and living the life of the Spirit."

Observation:

There is a danger embedded in this passage.  If we forget to keep first things first, we can easily follow Thomas' advice into an unholy dualism that pits "flesh" against "spirit".  But, to separate these two parts of our nature, esteeming one and despising the other is to follow the gnostics and not 

Christ Jesus.  The Word-made-Flesh is the ultimate example of God's desire for all of material creation to be permeated again by God's creative and redemptive Holy Spirit.  We are not meant to be merely material creatures, nor are we to strive to transcend our creaturely enfleshment.  Rather, by the grace of God we shall receive both will and power to regain the fullness of existence for which we were created - the communion of flesh and spirit.

So, the opening line is most instructive:

"Whenever a man desires something he does not have, he immediately becomes restless. ..."

In all I do, I will choose either to attempt to possess; or, to yield to being possessed.  This is to say, 

I may either strive after objects I do not have and so become restless because of the inability of said objects to fulfill me; or, I will seek the will of God - to be known by and to know God as a subject - and yield to possession by the Holy Spirit.  Either way, I will be restless until the day I die and pass from this sin-soaked world into the next life.  The question is, will I be engaged in restless wandering after illusory objects, or a fruitful restlessness for God's will to be done here, now, in our midst, as it is done in heaven.

Application:

It is only by paying attention to the first things, that we can be free to live lives of faith given the ambiguity of this world and our imperfect existence in it.  Without the knowledge that restlessness cannot be avoided only offered to God, Thomas' advice is easily mistaken for a call to perfection.

"The person who is not yet wholly dead to self is easily tempted and overcome by small matters."

Yep, that sounds like me.  Impatience with the kids too easily turns into frustration and anger.  Watching a favourite program on tv too easily turns into time wasted channel surfing.  Thinking about how to improve our living space too easily turns into covetous greed while checking out houses for sale in the neighbourhood.

So what?  Does that mean I am a lost cause because I have yet to wholly die to my sin-sick-self?

No!  For this is the glorious paradox of life in Christ: Even as I am dying to myself I am being resurrected to Christ.  This process will only be completed in my death, but it is already guaranteed and underway because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  

The power of this promise propels me forward through all temptation, failure, doubt and despair.

As I and others around me focus less on trying to possess perfection apart from God we are being in-dwelt (possessed) by the Spirit and we are seeing real breakthrough in our lives.  Patience is growing.  Discipline is increasing.  Grace and charity are crowding out pettiness and greed.

And, the best thing... this promise is "for you" too.

Prayer:

Today, I note how these themes come alive in the prayer that Jesus teaches us.

9 "[Jesus said] Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10     Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11     Give us this day our daily bread.[c]
12     And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13     And do not bring us to the time of trial,[d]
        but rescue us from the evil one.[e] [Matthew 6:9-13]

Amen.

The Good Book, or Books About The Good?

Of The Reading of Holy Scriptures

It is truth we must look for in Scripture, not cunning words.  All Scripture ought to be read in the spirit in which it was written.  We ought to read books that are devotional and simple, as well as those that are deep and difficult.  And let not the education of the writer be a stumbling block to you, whether he has little or much learning, but let the love for the pure truth draw you to read.  Ask not who has said this or that, but focus on what he says.

Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord endures forever.  God speaks to us in different ways.  If you want to profit from your reading, read humbly, simply, and honestly.

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas à Kempis

Observation:

Dear brother à Kempis, are you advising me here on my reading of scripture alone, or on all the reading I do (be it devotional, scholarly, leisurely or technical)?

At first blush it sounds like you move quickly from scripture to all the books that beckon and make claims upon our time and minds.  Yet, looking again at the title you gave this reflection, I am reminded that our bible is not one book, but a collection.  Scripture is a library composed by many authors.  The genres vary as do the styles and backgrounds of the authors and editors.  Genesis delivers mythic beginnings and sweeping epics.  Leviticus grants us a window into a particular community of faith's life through a legal code and its interpretations.  Ecclesiastes is wisdom for those who live long enough to become disillusioned.  Philemon is a hand-written appeal for justice and mercy to prevail in a very personal conflict.  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are particular and diverse accounts of God's singular act of saving grace through the promise of a messiah, his birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promise not to leave us along until his return.  The genius of the prophets - major and minor alike - is that each proclaims "the word of the LORD" in a unique voice for a specific audience.

The miracle of holy scripture is not that God has allowed the WORD to be recorded once-and-for-all. Rather, the same I AM who spoke to Moses, temple priests, Solomon, Paul, apostles and prophets uses their accounts to give us ears to hear what God is saying to us even here, even now.  Of course, if I am to attend to what the LORD is saying, I will first have to quite the anxious and egoistic noise of my heart and mind.

“Be still, and know that I am God! 

I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”  - Psalm 46:10

Application:

The advice to read humbly, simply and honestly sticks with me today. 

An occupational hazard of being a regular preacher is that I am tempted to come to scripture with an agenda.  "I have a weekly deadline to meet, LORD, so if You don't mind I have some ideas to try out before You get going," I can easily imagine myself saying.  Perhaps that is why I have been taken with illustrated children's stories such as, The Seven Silly Eaters, and Love You Forever of late.  These books capture the imagination and draw the reader into the ridiculous, wonderful world of the author to point us gently in the direction of truth that is good.

Today, I hear an invitation to attend fully to the story of a given passage of scripture above all.  For these many books, writ by diverse authors and edited and translated through the centuries all finally are offered to us in service of the great divine comedy.  Our Author speaks, gently guiding us into truth and goodness.  

Prayer:

Spirit of God, Living Word, speak!  Catch us up in the mysterious delight of Your story.

And grant that we may have ears to hear and wisdom to listen.  Amen.

Learning Discernment

Of Prudence In Action

            "We must not trust every word of others or every feeling within ourselves, but must cautiously and patiently try each matter, whether it is of God.  Sadly, we are so weak that we find it easier to believe and speak evil of others than good.  But those who are perfect do not believe every word of gossip, for they know [hu]man's weakness, that it is prone to evil.
            This is great wisdom: to not be hasty in action or stubborn in our own opinions.  A part of this wisdom also is not to believe every word we hear, nor to tell others all that we hear, even though we believe it.  Take counsel with a [hu]man who is wise and has a good conscience, and seek to be instructed by one better than yourself, rather than to follow your own ideas.  A good life makes a [hu]man wise in God's eyes and gives them experience in many things.  The more humble a [hu]man is in theirself, and the more obedient toward God, the wiser will they be in all things, and the more will their soul be at peace."

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas à Kempis

Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?

Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?

Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?

Do you believe in God the Father?

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?

Excerpted from Order for Holy Baptism  - Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Observation:

Why does it seem so difficult to discern God's will for our lives and to walk in it?

Today, à Kempis helps me to see that I too often rely upon my gut instincts, heart longings, and head knowledge in order to speedily navigate the myriad choices and decisions I am faced with daily.  At once, this causes me to isolate myself from God and neighbour; both of whom are essential helpers in the pursuit of wise discernment.

Today's reading has me revisiting the three big "no's" [renunciations] and the three big "yes'" [affirmations] of baptism into Christ Jesus.

Will my choices reveal an obedience to the destroyer? 

Or, will I trust in God the Creator?

Will my actions reveal an allegiance to powers of this world that rebel?

Or, will I trust in Christ, whose obedience is the source of our redemption?

Will my decisions reveal an obedience to the ways of this self that isolate?

Or, will I trust in the Spirit, who Sanctifies through inter-connection?

Application:

Today I hear two clear invitations:

1)  "Go ahead and slow down."  I feel a prompting to do less at a slower pace in order to focus on the quality of discernment that proceeds a given decision or action.

2) "Go ahead and ask for help." I feel a longing to learn discernment through imitation of faithful mentors who "are better than myself" rather than by trying to learn a bunch of information about discernment and then trying to (innovate) figure out how to apply it in my own situation.

What about you?  Do these words seem like they have their source in our Father who loves us continuously and well:

"Go ahead and slow down."

"Go ahead and ask for help."

Or, perhaps the Lord has another word for you today ...

Prayer:

Come, Holy Spirit, Come.

Enliven our minds.

Embolden our hearts.

Extinguish our stubborn selfishness.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come.

Teach us to rest in You so that we can move with You.

Amen.

Curves In All the Wrong Places

"Of The Knowledge of Truth"

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas à Kempis

"The more simplicity a man has within himself, the more things and the deeper things he understands, and that without hard work, because he receives the light of understanding from above.  The spirit that is pure, sincere, and steadfast is not distracted though it has much work to do, because it does all things for the honour of God and strives to be free from all thoughts of self-seeking.  A person who is good and devout determines beforehand within his own heart the work he has to do, and so is not drawn away by the  desires of his selfish will but subjects everything to the judgement of right reason.  Who has a harder battle to fight than he who strives for self-mastery?  

This should be our endeavour: 

to master self and thus daily grow stronger than self and strive for perfection.

All perfection has some imperfection joined to it in this life.  A lowly knowledge of yourself is a surer way to God than the deep searchings of man's learning.  Not that learning is to be avoided nor the taking account of anything that is good; but a good conscience and a holy life is better than all.  And, because many seek knowledge rather than good living, they go astray and bear little or no fruit.

How many perish through empty learning in this world who care little for serving God.  And, because they love to be great more than to be humble, they have become "futile in their thoughts"

(Romans 1:21).  He only is truly great who has great love.  He is truly great who considers himself small.  He is the truly wise man who considers all earthly things as garbage that he may gain Christ.  And, he is the truly learned man who does the will of God and forsakes his own will."

Observation:

I am intrigued by the question, "How does one become stronger than one's self?"

It seems a counter-cultural word in a milieux where so many characters are daily devoted to the improvement and empowerment of the self.  We are used to the idea that their is something wrong with our current self, but the perscription generally offered is to become a better, stronger self by undertaking the proper disciplines or consuming the correct amount of a product.

Unless I have him wrong, à Kempis runs the other way with the problem.  The solution to that which is wrong with my "self" is not to obsess over a cure or undertake a program of betterment, but to avoid fascination with self all together.

As he struggled to find true freedom worthy of the gospel, Martin Luther picked up on evocative language for the nature of this sinful fascination developed hundreds of years earlier by Augustine of Hippo:  se incurvatus in se (self curved in upon self).

Our (Lutheran) order of baptism includes the following three big no's by way of a profession of faith before expounding the three big yes' of the Apostle's Creed:

                  Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God? I renounce them.

                  Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?  I renounce them.

                  Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God? I renounce them.

So, how does one become stronger than one's self?  By paying more attention to the good relationships we have been created for in the first place - right relations with God and right relations with our neighbours.  In the end, only life enriched by these relationships is fertile enough to give rise to an authentic self.  Anything else, is a hall of mirrors.

Application:

Today I hear God saying to me, "I see you.  I love you."

As I steep in my Creator's unconditional favour, I am set free to exit the hall of fun house mirrors that exists inside my psyche.  Outside of myself, I am captivated by the simply profound beauty of the creatures God has placed me alongside.  The world outside myself is infinitely more interesting than the cell of my own obsessions and insecurities.

Today I hear God saying to me, "Look around you.  Explore, celebrate and serve."

What a delight to follow these marching orders.  They have already led me into several fascinating interactions today.  I have learned about rare auto-immune disorders, changing educational theories and methodologies, computer programming, foxes, Harry Potter and ...

What about you?  

What are the vistas God is eager to show you just beyond the threshold of self?

Prayer:

Jesus, for freedom you have set us free.  Grant us grace to stand in this freedom and not to revert again into curved in postures of slavery.  And, when we do, visit us in these prisons of our own willfulness and give us the words of eternal life to free us once more.  Amen.

IMHO

Of Thinking Humbly of Oneself

Chapter Two - The Imitation of Christ - Thomas à Kempis

What profit is knowledge without the fear of God?  Better is a lowly peasant who serves God than a proud philosopher who watches the stars and neglects the knowledge of himself.  He who knows himself well is vile in his own sight, neither does he regard the praises of men.  If I knew all the things that are in the world and were not walking in love, how would it help me before God, who is to judge me according to my deeds?

Rest from excessive desire for knowledge, 

for therein is found much distraction and deceit. 

Those who have knowledge desire to appear learned and to be called wise.  There are many things to know that provide little or no profit to the soul.  And foolish is he who focuses on things other than those that contribute to his soul's health.  Many words do not satisfy the soul, but a good life refreshes the mind, and a pure conscience gives great confidence.

The greater and more complete your knowledge, the more severely will you be judged, unless you have lived righteously.  Therefore do not be prideful about any skill or knowledge that you have.  If it seems to you that you know many things and understand them well, know also that there are many more things that you do not know.  Why do you desire to lift yourself above another, when there are many more knowledgeable and more skilled in the scriptures than you?  If you want to know and learn anything beneficial, love to be unknown and to be counted as nothing.

The best and most profitable lesson is when a man truly knows and judges himself humbly.  

To think humbly of one's self and to think always kindly and highly of others, 

this is great and perfect wisdom.  

Even if you see your neighbour sin openly or grievously, you ought not to consider yourself better than he, for you know not how long you will keep your integrity.  All of us are weak and frail; consider no man more frail than yourself.

Observation:

More often than I'd like to admit I suffer from an affliction sometimes called, "paralysis by analysis."

It is a form of fearfulness that presents as perfectionism.  Basically, I balk at starting something until I have an entire window of time that will allow me to complete the entire task in one setting.  On top of this I tell myself that I can't start until ... (until I have read that next book ... until I am much better at a given task than I am now ... until true inspiration strikes ...).  The funny thing is, when I am really struggling with this life-sucking combination of immature character traits and not-so-helpful habits it doesn't look like I am doing or accomplishing much of anything externally.  Internally though, my mind is racing and anxious.

Into my short-circuited work (that doesn't look much like work but is ever-so taxing) God speaks:

"Rest, my son."

Application:

I few years ago, a wise friend pointed out an eternal truth to me.  "You are waiting for all the work to be done to your standards before you rest; but, in the beginning God created human beings and invited them to work out of their rest."

This is the rhythm of life we are made for:

Rest.

Resting, root our identity in who God says we are.

Rooted, rise to love and serve God and neighbour. (repeat)

Notice that word, "rest" could be heard as a call to action that demands activity as our response.

"Phil, you know better than to be so pridefully perfectionist.  Get to work! Fix yourself! Rest!"

See how ready the accuser is ready to twist and misconstrue God's gracious gift of sabbath rest.

Thankfully, when our Father speaks to us, there is no such condemnation.  Thankfully, Creator never begins with a demand for our activity but always provides a word to clarify our identity.  Only this gospel word can gift us the freedom to respond playfully to the invitation to be who we are - no more, no less.

Do you find yourself stuck today?  Are you weary from working to earn your rest?

Listen to what God is saying to you ... :

"My beautiful child.  True humility is learning to see yourself as I see you.  

You are my good gift to the world." - Dad

Prayer:

Lord, as our day comes to completion, help us to see that You are our source and our end.

Grant us rest, that resting we may root, and rooted rise to love and serve according to Your will.  Amen.

Scratching the Surface

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas á Kempis

Book 1 - Chapter 1

OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST AND CONTEMPT FOR THE WORLD.

"He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness," says the Lord (John 8:12).  These are the words of Christ, and they teach us how far we must imitate His life and character if we desire true illumination and deliverance from all blindness of heart.  Let it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell on the life of Jesus Christ.

His teaching surpasses all teaching of holy men, and those who have His Spirit find in it
"the hidden manna" (Revelation 2:17).  But there are many who, though they frequently hear the gospel, feel little longing for it, because they do not have the mind of Christ.  He, therefore, who desires to fully and with true wisdom understand the words of Christ should strive to conform his whole life to the mind of Christ.

It is not deep words that make a man holy and upright; it is a good life that makes a man dear to God. I would rather feel contrition than be skillful in the definition of it.  If you know the whole Bible and the sayings of all the philosophers, what good will it do you without the love and grace of God?  All is meaningless, except to love God and serve only Him.  That is the highest wisdom, to cast the world behind us and to reach forward to the heavenly kingdom.

It is meaningless, then, to seek after and trust in the riches that will perish.  It is meaningless, too, to covet donors and to lift up ourselves on high.  It is meaningless to follow the desires of the flesh and be led by them, for this will bring misery in the end.  It is meaningless to desire a long life and to have little care for a good life.  It is meaningless to take thought only for the life that now is and not to look forward to the things that will be hereafter.  It is meaningless to love what quickly passes away and not to hurry to where eternal joy abides.

Think often of the saying,

"The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing" (Ecclesiastes 1:8).  

Strive, therefore, to turn away your heart from love of the things that are seen and to set it on the things that are not seen.  For those who follow after their own fleshly lusts defile the conscience and destroy the grace of God.

Q:  What is the Word of grace God is speaking to me, today?

A:  My grace is indestructible, ever present and "for you".

I take the author's point above is not so much meant to argue that we could ever destroy the grace of God, but that through naive neglect and blind groping we can become so consumed with the urgency of embodied existence that we can (and do) fail to receive well the gift of grace continually offered by God.  In this way, though it is not possible to lay waste to God's grace, we may well waste it by failing to engage it.

Q:  What would God have you do in response to this Word of grace?

A:  Absorb it.

We have small children and we live in an arid climate, so cracked skin and chapped lips are a permanent part of our current reality.  It never ceases to amaze me how resistant our kids can be to my urging them to be proactive in taking care of their skin.  No amount of lecturing or abstract reasoning has ever been effective in getting them to follow my lead on this.

As adults, we know that skin gets dry.  We also know the easiest way to relieve dry skin is to rub and scratch it.  Unfortunately, we have learned that temporary relief leads to more irritation and discomfort in the long run.  Turns out the easiest way to care for our skin isn't the most effective way.  If we want to avoid long term pain we have to get beyond short term solutions.  On the one hand, we know its most often best to avoid scratching an itch.  On the other hand, we have learned better relief comes from taking the time to apply ointments to dry and cracked skin.  Even better, we know we can avoid the dry skin altogether if we are disciplined about taking the time to apply lotion to hands, feet and other problem parts.

The million dollar question is this:  how did we learn this?  

Well, the truth of our experience as sinner/saint children of God is always going to be varied and messy - some lessons we learn by suffering the consequences of our mistakes, some practices we stumble upon, some we adopt proactively.  I think our author would have us learn to absorb God's grace by attending carefully to the example we have in Jesus and endeavouring to imitate his approach more faithfully with each passing day.

Prayer:
Father, thank you for giving me life.  I am coming to know that I don't always take good care of this gift you have so freely given, but I would like to learn a better way.  Thank you, Jesus, for your example and for the example of so many faithful followers over the ages who have blazed trails and set up camps.  Thank you, Spirit, for longing and vision.  Amen.

Imitating a Master Imitating the Master.

Well, here we are.

Lent is done for another cycle having culminated in the chaos of Holy Week and the
divine re-ordering of Resurrection Sunday.

Soon enough the white of the liturgical wheel will roll into that long season of green.  I usually dread the monochromatic monotony, but not this year.  This year I feel like some pruning I've been doing is about to yield some new growth.  In anticipation of that new growth and with an eye to sustaining it, I picked up a little book from my shelf by Thomas á Kempis.

If that name is unfamiliar, take a gander at this:
(kudos to christianitytoday.com for their awesome biographical section)

"We must imitate Christ's life and his ways if we are to be truly enlightened and set free from the darkness of our own hearts. Let it be the most important thing we do."

Sir Thomas More, England's famous lord chancellor under Henry VIII
(and subject of the film A Man for All Seasons) said it was one of the three books everybody ought to own. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, read a chapter a day from it and regularly gave away copies as gifts. Methodist founder John Wesley said it was the best summary of the Christian life he had ever read.

They were talking about Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ, the devotional classic that has been translated into over 50 languages, in editions too numerous for scholars to keep track of 
(by 1779 there were already 1,800 editions).  Little is known of Thomas himself, and he is known for little else—although this one contribution to history seems to be enough.

You can read more here, or you can join me as I work through this devotional classic in the weeks and months to follow.

Holy God, I give you thanks that this road of discipleship - as demanding as it is - is a well worn one.

Thank you for the wisdom and example of those who have gone before.  Grant that these words will help me to hear and honour your Word as I seek to follow you in a way that others in turn will follow.  Amen.