Grace but also Justice, Truth, Righteousness

Surely all but the unforgivable sin will be wiped away by God's bottomless grace. But that does not mean there are no consequences, costs, risks or harm coming from one's sin. These will meet with the refiner's fire to destroy the bad parts and leave only the good parts. Human minds and mortal logic could never shed light on the entirety and meaning of this process of realignment and bringing sin back on track with what is right, good and true. Looking from the development of the believer's deepest heart, the ability to receive and appreciate grace given depends on the attitude and strength of one's heart and the intensity of love for God. If a person is distracted, preoccupied or otherwise not attuned to the voice of God, the face of God, the abiding presence and outworking of God's hands, then that person will fail to understand the language of God; fail to hear when Grace is given; and therefore fail to reply when asked.

The Heart Hears, the Heart Speaks

At the evening Advent by Candlelight worship service we heard the verses of prophet Malachi 1:6-14 and 3:1-4, 6-18. There is much of the Old Testament vengeful God about the scolding, shaming and simultaneously fiercely loving message there. As in times of old, still today there are those who confuse worship and Religion with a set of practices or outward forms, rather than to see these as mere process to what is important; that is seeking after God and deeply desiring him to be present in good times and bad times, ever present and all merciful. 

     We heard of the value of silence when letting a verse settle into one's mind, especially for electronically burdent friends among us. Distraction is just a buzz, whistle or chime away. A few worshipers told of instances when God spoke through sign or person nearby. It would seem that God is all around, but few speak his language and thus perceive his voice; see his face, observe his hand at work. 

     Part of what participating in church life outside of the weekly shared worship time is to strengthen one's heart; its capacity to hear others and its ability to respond to the quiet, persistent call of God every day. As such the church and its programming of small group study, praying, and service to each other and the community of strangers all around is a kind of fitness center for the strengthening of one's heart. Not the cariovascular organ but rather the thing that allows us to hear and speak to each other heart to heart. That makes participation in a body of believers just as important as regular exercise of the body. If you are not sweating then you aren't working hard enough!

Enacting scripture, Genesis 37: 1-11 dreaming Joseph

Students from Western Theological Seminary came from their Hebrew class to demonstrate the verses they were spending the fall semester discovering in deep study of letters, words, phrases, staging and voicing in order to get to know God better. Along the way several questions about the spoken English and then the acted out Hebrew came to mind, https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pCyw8tQ-LEg.
    First, after 12 weeks of continuous study of the 11 verses they have grown to find new meanings and unexpected ideas rising out of the rhythm and texture of the stories. But I wonder if this new aural and enacted tasted for the text makes the rest of The Book seem thin (lacking the same in-depth treatment) or seem overwhelming (so many other worthy verses remain).
    Next, enacting written passages may have some parallels to musical notation. Just as the markings on sheet music on no more than directions, and the living tissue of sound and pattern comes from going beyond the composer's instructions and feeling the timing and ensemble effect with the other musicians, whether instrumental or vocal. By the same token, the recorded lines from Bible, whether original OT Hebrew and NT Greek, or in vernaculars, should not be conflated with The Word. Only in speaking and in hearing what is pronounced can their be engagement with meanings. Reading silently the pages of the Bible is like reading silently the pages of a music score. The result is a pale approximation of the real thing.
    Third, a devil's advocate would point out that the great depth coming from spending a semester on 11 verses does take one to new places, but yet there is more. And just when a mortal mind starts to feel satisfied with its grasp of the Infinite, The Omnipotent and The Omniscient then one must remember that such impressions are bound to be wrong because one can never comprehend the Infinite. And yet the pursuit of truth and wrestling with The Word is its own reward, incomplete and imperfect though it may be forever.

The chase is the thing

Every seeker has a certain capacity for curiosity and righteousness; a certain appetite to feed periodically. Such is the reaching toward God that a person can make. Just when some sense or coherence appears, that is when we falsely foreclose the Infinite. We imagine that we have grasped, or at least touched, or merely brushed against the Omnipotent. As long as you paddle your boat, walk your path, and engage in some way, then the Word is alive. But should you ever feel in control, in command of knowledge or blessed by some sort of wisdom, then you are merely self-referential; going around in circles and looking at your mirrored image and mistaking this for the Creator. Being connected to the vine is the thing, not to encompass or understand the vine, but instead to be connected to it.

    As a young creature this connection may be implicit in things like a strong body or gleeful play. Even a laugh touches a person's heart and those within earshot. But as a knowledge-hungry grown-up such things as words and pictures are depended on for connecting to the Infinite and Omnipresent. Later on, with the benefit of age or at least the benefit of wider life experience, then we my feel less need to explain or grasp a thing because appreciation and knowing of the thing can be obtained more simply, much like a child is doing without articulating it verbally or intellectually. God just is; and so we just are.

    And so there is some comfort in knowing that one's searching for God and longing to know him better comes from basic connections: spending time and focus and fellowship in The Word. There is no need or even possibility of getting to the end of study and search. But merely the effort will yield habits and fruit.

Organizing your religion - What Would Jesus Do?

One question is to ask how a Savior would organize his daily routines, establish primary relationships among a band of disciples, and make use of the many ways to communicate in writing and orally in person, by telecommunicating, or online with mobile devices and services. If the goal of reaching out to people most ready to hear his message (usually downtrodden, ill, financially broke or socially broken) remains unchanged, then amid the many distractions the message would also remain the same: to love God and to love one's neighbor.

    But another question, the one weighing down many church bodies, is about the organizational culture of expectations, standard practices, and administrative burden for record keeping and decision-making in a collective way. Clearly there are some matters that remain the same today as with the earliest groups in the Jesus Movement: things like attracting interest of outsiders to seek and learn and participate, cultivating care and responsibility for one another across the life cycle, worshiping together to praise God and to give thanks. Other things are vastly different then to now: religious persecution vs. freedom, house church scale and scope vs. traditional congregations of 30-150 (or the massive Seekers churches), segmented and mobile lives vs. days mostly lived out in a small circumference, households of multi-generation as social identity versus rugged individuals divorced, separated or married with considerable gender equality now vs. then. Against the few unchanged parts and the many different conditions for knowing God and relating to one's neighbors, the question remains: What Would Jesus Do if doing God's work involved an organized church, rather than his ad hoc band of believers?

    The church that I usually attend has a monthly meeting of elders/elected leaders whose discussions touch on the three layers of governance: budget (operations and administrative duties), executive (decisions to make), and vision and learning (thinking ahead, seeking the Spirit, caring for each other and the larger church of members and friends). Thanks to literacy and electronic communications the number of documents circulated before and after the face to face meeting seems to expand with no natural limit, sometimes amounting to a dozen or more items totalling 20 or 30 pages, some of which is dense or requires careful reflection and eventual discussion. Surely nothing like this took place in the itinerant orbit of early church leaders. They had no bulletin boards, monthly newsletters, webpages and Facebook sites, weekly email notices and the many communications of modern infrastructure: utilities, repairs, grounds maintenance, occasional wedding or funeral event, shopping and ordering supplies and curriculum materials, coordinating schedules for use of the building's rooms and equipment, updating office equipment and computer software, keeping up with email and voicemail messages, and so on. Again - how can all this busyness be reigned in and the entire experience of being a body of believers by streamlined to more closely look like Jesus and a handful of disciples? Looking at the matter from another angle, among contemporary church groups what is the "lowest maintenance" example of minimal organizational functions, while keeping the emphasis on praising God, loving one's neighbor and growing in one's service to the Creator?

    There is a spectrum of experiences among church goers from the ones who show up for weekly worship and then go home, on the one hand, to those who find themselves engaged in small groups, volunteer activity, and other work at church throughout the week. Paid staff shoulder much of the operational busyness, but the governing body (budget, decision making, vision and learning) seems increasingly to spend their energy with the myriad details of guiding and expanding the organization (rather than taking individual spiritual health and growth as the unit of analysis and object of efforts). All is conducted with good intentions, but then the road to perdition is paved with good intentions, too. So as the burden of entertaining talk of church matters gets heavier, the remaining time and interest in matters of the heart is diminished. Big and well-managed organizations can do things that small groups or individuals cannot. And yet the small group seems to be able to do things that organized bodies cannot; namely, abide with God's word and in one another's presence. Perhaps that is also what Jesus would do: eschew big buildings with their priority of perpetuating themselves, sapping the participant's vision and hearts. Instead he would stick with the love or one person at a time and therein find God.

Genesis of First Testament (old testament)

While the process and timeline leading to the canon comprising the 2nd (New) Testament is generally known (Council of Nicea in 325 CE, later variations as E. and W. Christendom split and further with the offshooting of Protestantism), the "archeology" of the 1st (Old) Testament is less commonly discussed or understood. Among Protestants it seems that emphasis goes on the Jesus stories and letters of the early church. That may be due to the smaller time horizon (2-3 years of Jesus and maybe 15-20 of the early church); compare the 4-5000 years, many pages, chapters, events, figures, and genres in the 2nd Testament.


In the eyes of Jewish teachers, students and believers the geography of the Jewish Bible (perhaps nearly identical to 2nd Testament for Christians; or to Qu'ran for Muslims) consists of several parts, including The Laws (penta tuch; first five books), Histories, Wisdom literature, Prophets, and so on. But the moment or points at which the composition of the Hebrew Bible came about is not much discussed in Protestant services. Related: for the 2nd Testament we know the process leading to break up into Chapters (800s C.E.) and Verses (1400s C.E.). But what of the Jewish Bible: was that contemporary to the Christians' scholarly analysis and processing, or did division and annotation take place after or before the Christians' undertaking?


As usual, wikipedia has some clues to the genesis of the Jewish Bible (2nd Testament). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_the_Hebrew_Bible_canon

Immersion program to speak God's love; Well-oiled operation

Immersion in the language of God's love?

The sermon of 9/28/2014 was entitled "fanning the flames" and referrred to Paul's encouragement (to ask and to urge) to Thessalonians in which he says that they already are doing a good job of expressing God's love but he wants them to do this same thing (the flame of God's love) even more (fanning the flame). Some of the sermon phrases reminded me of my experience learning to speak a second language: at first I was hesitant and would feel more certain of my meaning when I took the words that I heard, mentally put them into English, and then consider my response in English before putting that response into the second language. Besides tiring my brain out by doing double-duty, it also made things slow and generally created some psychological distance between me and the other speakers as well as between myself and the second language itself as a skin-tight, close-fitting medium of expression. The analogy to God's language (of the heart, engaging in relationships under God's authority and Will) is that one may began haltingly and sporadically, but will ultimately grow most comfortable with the ways of communication by practice, by context, by motivation of communicating with those around you. So instead of depending on the intermediate language of putting the situation into your native (consumer and/or diploma-educated) language, strive to speak the language directly by immersion with no secondary step involved. The result should be, as in the foreign language experience above, faster communication, less fatigue, and closer psychological distance to other people speaking that language, and greater familiarity with the language itself.

Well-oiled machine, mainline Protestant church with momentum

Vigorous, doubt-free clergyman ablely plugs into willing congregants as a series of board, committees and accountability structures. Rituals are held, poverty, illness and the other human sufferings are banished and the whole enterprise presents a good picture to the outside world and to those actively involved on the inside, no matter if they carry responsibilities for operations there or instead are more passive bench sitters who find meaning in simple presence of the well-oiled machine, humming along season after season.

    Yet how well does this vehicle carry believers and believers-yet-to-be forward in spiritual growth and emergent hearts of love - of God and of one's neighbor? Certainly there is structure or scaffolding to bring a person to the right sort of mind-frame and sometimes some ready opportunities to trust and risk a little bit to build new relationships. And there is a glow of encouragement when looking in the cultural and organizational mirror to confirm that the body of believers walks and talks as they imagine they should. When seen at the unit of individual (are you better off now that one year ago, in terms of your capacity to love and the places this takes you); or when seen at the next bigger unit of inter-relationships, it is less clear how well an organized religion is better than the smaller "house church" model of primitive Christianity.

    The danger is that the humming machine lulls a person into outward busyness but inward comfort and blunted vigilance. Seeking, questioning and trialing is less appealing or urgent when all outward signs speak to one's sense of propriety and peer approbation; feeling the love of The World's eyes. And yet, even with the risk of contentment and feeling fulfilled, imperfect though it may be, there is a certain institutional inertia and persistence that less formal gatherings lack. And so, with one life to live, is the path of seeking and growth of spirit better to be had informally but with high-quality instruction and help; or is the way more effective under the pattern of a denominational faith tradition? Maybe the best of all possible worlds is to affiliate and participate loosely with brothers and sisters of Organized Religion, but all the while mindfully sharpening the critical voices and wondering mind to keep inquiring and wrestling with the Word of God. In other words, what may work best is a less well-oiled machine; one in which "some assembly is required," some repair may be needed and decisions may need to be remade by the current generation.

many notes - Free Will, stumbling blocks, overthinking God

Free Will again

The new covenant releases followers from The Law's particular details since one should be guided by what is on the inside of one's heart, rather than externalities. But allowing that the path one may follow is not prescribed does not mean that just any road is equally good. After all one may stray now perhaps even more easily than before without any external structure or guardrails. And yet it is the risk of sinning that makes the effort vital; not that one should stray until hitting that point, but that having no possibility of missing the path would kill any feelings of volunteerism, or being led by what is on one's heart. So we are free, but still the road taking us nearer to God is there, as before; or rather, there are so many roads now, yet for each person the beckoning of the road must be hearkened to while remaining watchful not to fall off the path: we are free to follow or to fall. We are unfettered and can respond to God's call, but not any old ways of leading one's life are equally effective in conducting a person to the destination.

    A similar thing happens in constituting a group of believers or ecclesia ('called out' from the masses). We strive to form a body with clear boundaries and well defined hands and feet of God. But at the same time the door remains open to all; that is, the boundaries are porous. And we strive to be righteous and self-improved, but at the same time welcome sinners less striving as brothers and sisters, equal to ourselves in God's eyes, since all sins are equal in his-her eyes no matter what our mortal measuring stick tells us. And while holding up an image of righteous people, we are also vigilant to guard against self-righteousness (self-referenced glory); that is, we hold ourselves high, and yet at the same time strive for humility and the heart of a servant or slave to The Master. Likewise, again, we leave judgment of a person's conduct or intention to God; that is, our place is not to judge a brother or sister. And yet there are certain right and wrong things in human society, surely. The vast judicial system and property experts, conflict resolution experts and mediation counselors all tread near this judgment function that belongs ultimately to God.

Spiritual growth - an ends or a means?

Many people can sense when a person, place or things carries either more or else less spiritual wisdom, efficacy, or gravitas relative to our own selves. Although we might never have considered the life stages or developmental steps in a person's accidental or mindful growth in spirit.

    A fundamental difference lies in the assumptions about growing in one's spirit. Is this a fixed ladder that one may climb in a sequential and orderly way? Or instead is this a moving organism that needs exercise and feeding and rest, not to mention some teaching by those who have gone before. If one need only recognize the Big Questions to be solved and then proceeds to do so, then the effort is a single project in one's life, whether it be in younger days or in the final chapter(s) of one's time. But on the other hand, if growth of one's spirit depends on repeated and indefinite small events, both as giver and as receiver, then the image of recurring appetite for one to satisfy comes to mind instead.

Stumbling blocks to one's fellows

Paul urges his helpers to determine what practices will best lead the newest Christians into relationship with each other and with God. In particular he urges them not to do anything that may cause the newcomers to stumble or fixate upon the wrong things. So if eating meat from the altar causes them a stir, for example, then don't provoke this response in them.

    Turning the lens around to face the other way; namely, to face the people of the Congregational Church, it would be interesting to discover that hot-buttons set off Congregationals by comparison with other of the mainstream Protestant churches.

Unlikely to wrestle with the words of God from thousands of years ago

The weekly men's bible study has been going over 15 years, I imagine. Except for a few months in summer, the 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. timeslot is dim or dark. Riding, walking or driving up the street and turning in at the parking lot, there are few signs of life: maybe one or two cars are there already and a light at the entry steps is lit. So to move from the outdoor weather fine or foul into the building, it seems hard to believe that anyone could show up and hear the word of God presented in English and open to tangents, wonderings and applications of the lesson as grasped by the men who are on hand at a given date. Maybe it seems improbable that stories going back, in some cases, perhaps 6-7,000 years ago still are being read and wrestled with; words not only distant in time while remaining fresh to those living in  our time and place, but words also distant in language and society, too; traveling across time and oceans to people who don't speak ancient Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic. And yet, one week after another, one book at a time --if only a few verses or paragraphs-- this is exactly what happens. We open the book and pick up where we left off, plunging into ancient things that are freshly made for our lives.

Balancing deed and words - cautions against overthinking God

The book of James includes the part about "faith without deeds is dead;" and yet the particular actions probably don't matter much to God, who does things in his-her time on a much bigger canvas of infinite details. He-she does not depend on our imperfect hearts and feet of clay. However the intentionality, sincerity and general effort that may preoccupy us as we strive may well result in drawing us closer to each other and to God; and that part of the exercise in action does matter. In other words, action is a physical expression of what lies inside each person and also, in a sort of feedback loop, what happens in physical space and time also touches what is inside each person. In summary, abundant action by and of itself is not meritorious. But to dwell exclusively in the interior spaces of mindful reflection or meditation is not sufficient, either. Rather a little of both is needed to reinforce the one (interior faith) with the other (deeds).
    It is understandable that a person would wish to structure a daily cycle or annual schedule that helps create a scaffolding or supporting system to cause one to focus on particular things in specific ways. But giving words to the process and experience of wisdom and discernment and splitting hairs (how many angels could dance on the head of a pin) amounts to overthinking one's place in God's world. Being verbal, analytic or visual in thinking and articulating matters is OK, but it is not a substitute for being with God, being God in some distant way, and doing God's work.

Gospel of small 'g' or capital letter 'G'

Men's bible study on Paul's letter to the Galatians (today's central Turkey crossroads town) opens with admonition that Judaizers were dragging the Gospel of the new church down into the mass of detail inherited from the Jewish way. Consider what Jesus was teaching and proclaiming in his story (small 'g' gospel or Good News to discard all the rules and deal-making with the Almighty and dwell only on loving God and one's neighbor as oneself: the kingdom of God is here, now, at hand; not a distant future place), on the one hand, and what we call The Gospels (capital 'g' Gospel of Jesus' story, including his horrid death with glorious resurrection for Christians, the "Easter People" who count on life everlasting).

    In other words, there is some variance in the emphasis of Jesus' message and that of Christians new and old who follow, one generation after the other. Jesus said that the Kingdom is now, so go about God's work in your small lifetime - this by itself is your reward and what may follow earthly life will come of its own accord as a natural consequence; don't obsess about a future, delayed gratification of a promised reward to earn; grace is given thanks to Jesus once and forever sacrifice, grace is not something to be earned.

Doing Christianity vs. doing so "like you mean it"

Paul and Peter conflicted when it came to the means and the ends to follow Jesus when it came to engaging with Jews joining The Way. Paul said not to be preoccupied by externalities of what is allowed and what is forbidden, or any of the other points of concern among the Jews striving to keep kosher. Peter seemed to think of those practices as a worthy foundation, but not a requirement for all to conform to; as a valuable thing rather than a stumbling block; an asset rather than liability. The subtle distinction Paul draws is between practices that may support certain (novice) believers to serve as a vehicle or means of connecting with God's love and feeding that relationship in patience and with courage, and practices being the object of preoccupation and veneration; of worshiping certain words, actions and ritualized sequences. In other words, there may be many forms that worship can take, but few if any are absolutely necessary or sufficient to connect with God and with one's neighbor.

    What may suit one person may be a distractor or stumbling block for another person. As such it is worth being vigilant about things that help versus hinder the worship of God; and it is worth being vigilant about conflating and confusing a set of specific practices with the thing they are the means to reaching. An example could be the "widow's mite" (woman of limited means who gives her two coins at the collection plate): scaled to her circumstances this meant a big sacrifice, whereas to a wealthy person the same coinage may have no meaning. Thus it is the intent or spirit in which a practice is conducted that matters when it comes to softening one's heart, opening one's eyes and ears, and drawing one closer to God's Will to make his Kingdom Come on Earth as in Heaven. It is not the mere conformity to the particular details that matters: of clothing, Order of Service, the plate offering given, or the Christina radio and lifestyle that one dwells in.

God's love; God's word

The opening prayer at the Bible study ended with thanks, "God you give us your word." There is a  double meaning of Word of God (you give us this collection of 66 books to read in our language and our social world), on the one hand, and Give Me Your Word (you affirm the truth, good faith and good will of your declarations; i.e. statements worthy of complete trust), on the other hand.

    Reading of God's abiding desire to draw each soul close to each other and to him/herself, we resort to the phrase of "God's love," "The LORD loves us so much that he gave his son," or the commandment to "love God with heart, mind, body and soul" (all of what one is). Yet among English speakers the word 'love' has dozens of inflections and connotations. By comparison, the source texts in 2000 year old Greek choose among 4 senses; indeed, 4 different words that all get lumped under the English word 'love': philos, eros, agape, and ___. Going back to the example of "God's love," in light of the abiding motive to draw each person closer to God, it makes sense that "love" of God means a relationship comprising trust and care and even affection, which is simple and direct and unconditional. As such 'God's love" is both more than  and less  than garden-variety love. "God's love" is deeper and longer lasting than the capricious human experience of relationships. And "God's love" is stripes away the cloying sentimentality, reverent memorialization, or dutiful and ritualistic routine that sometimes get blurred with everyday human interrelationships.

    In sum, "God's love" is another way of saying God's desire to be in relationship with each person as they grow stronger in faith, recognize God's voice, and affirm the bond they have with the Almighty maker of the heaven and earth.

The 4Bs: Bones >Blood >Breath >Beatha (thrum of Gaia)

Guided visualization begins with the solid part of one's body (bones) and goes to liquid (blood) and then vapor (breath) before finally coming to Beathe, a background charged buzz of all living and non-living things of which one forms a part. But on top of all this physical presence and belonging in The World, there is one still higher level and that is to hearken to the will or voice of God. Three ways in which that could happen are calming and centering one's busy mind in order to (1) actively listen for this voice; going about to (2) seek His Will, and (3) dwelling in the state of grace, as if one has already arrived at life's goal and now may simply relax and reflect.

Signs and Wonders - deer gallops into the edge of town at high noon

Francis of Assisi is famous for his rapport with non-human creatures. I felt a twinge of that direct, non-verbal relationship when the deer came up my street a little confused and took a turn toward the neighbor's house, trapping itself between house and chain-link fence, where it rammed itself into the immovable barrier repeatedly. Finally my dog and I ventured near and shouted it to "go"! It its panic it paid no heed, but continued tearing the skin from the one ear. Then, fearing hoof prints on my sandal-clad feet I waved the arm not holding my dog's leash to get its attention; still nothing. Then I slapped its shoulder several times to redirect its flight or fight urge and it went away toward the street in the direction of the town edge, but following north toward the place where the railroad tracks used to run. To be so close as to touch something wild is a strange feeling that seems to remove the imagined separation of wild and tame: "we creatures of God are all steward on this earth for our allotted time."

Reserving the best seats at the table (book of James)

The part where we are admonished against judging others and placing the powerful or beautiful in privileged positions and others at the margins caused me to reflect: in this earthly plane there will always be distinctions that we regard as better or worse in significance, opportunity or value in some physical or cultural scale. There will always be a certain number of steaks from a fatted calf and much more that ends up ground as hamburger. Not everyone can have a steak; or a wild-caught salmon, for that matter. And perhaps the 6-7 billion humans cannot all have one or multiple internal combustion-engine personal vehicles. Just so of the story in James: even if we should not judge others and accord the seats in that way, the physical facts of a room and its furniture mean that not all seats are equally near the presenter or presiding person, for example. How then to regard all people, property and actions with equality when the physical existence is filled with distinctions? Could all decisions comes from random lots drawn? First come, first served? Rotation schedule? Along with Free Will comes the challenge of "may Thy Will be done on earth as in heaven" (fitting the intended equality of all spirits/hearts/relationships to the Creator into the physical facts of mortal existence).

Doing God's work

Since there are always at least two parties in "do unto others as you would have done also unto you" (or Love Your Neighbor/vicinity-person As Yourself), it is worth looking at the various combination of giving and receiving that may take place in those actions. Suppose, for instance, that a well-intentioned person is generous in heart and gives unconditionally to others in authentic need, in perceived or suspected need, or in declared need. Suppose further that the recipient is not acquainted with Christian values, but does see that they can go repeatedly to the Christian for advice, help or material support. Taken to an extreme this could turn into a parasitic or possibly symbiotic relationship with the one being the chronic taker and the other being a (self-validating) giver.

     The question then is motive of the giver: is the Christian responding to the taker in order to fulfill perceived standards of Christian charitability, or as a way to build a relationship and rapport that will allow future steps closer to God (in other words being motivated for the other person; the taker's possible future interests)? The same giver-taker relationship can be seen in another way: the giver could be motivated for self (feeling good about giving) or for other (with a view to the taker's possible relationship to God and Neighbors). And the taker, too, could be motivated for self (grab what one can) or for other (by presenting needs to the giver, then this validates the giver or provides an outlet for the person's expression).

    Marcel Mauss wrote The Gift soon after WWI and shed light on the invisible bonds that the act and the object of giving carry along. Many of those insights extend beyond ethnographic fieldnotes and early sociological essays. These dynamics apply also the the book of James about "faith without works is dead."

Rules of the Game

In the weekly Bible study there is often reference made to the 10 commandments and subsequently the 613 additional guidance corollaries of Jewish tradition. This is made in contrast to the New Covenant brought by Rabbi Jeshua (Jesus the Christ) in which the overruling rule is governed by one's heart in living relationship with God the Creator. For Muslims, too, there are numerous patterns for behavior that are prescribed: how to dress, speak, eat, pray and structure the annual cycle of worship. And while comparatively the Christian way is less formalized, certainly there are rituals and worship patterns that are fairly rigid. During the preliminary parts of the past Sunday's worship service, I sensed a fleeting feeling of decorum and expectation among worshipers about what the components and performative standards for conducting the order of service should be. In other words, even among mainline Protestants (Congregational church), there is a certain fixation with external behaviors among the spiritually new as well as mature. Granted all things of the world must take specific physical form and definite chronological sequence, but to be true to the Christian path, one should instead dwell on the presence of the Holy Spirit (that of God within oneself and others; the light within) and not the potentially distracting details of (unspoken) dress code, amount of money contributed, location of pew customarily taken on Sunday, fanciness of potluck dish given, etc.

    What then are the differences in rule-based structures of individual and corporate worship between Jewish (long established and practiced), Muslim (micro-managed training wheels to support a person's spiritual path), and Christian (rubber meets the road in each pilgrim's heart; not so much confined or integral with external descriptors of ethnicity, family name and home ground, worship space, recitation, physical pages of Scriptures, etc). In all cases the adherents view the rules and precedents and customary habits as building blocks to one's personal standing and relationship with The Creator. But seen from the outside, rather than from practitioners and functionaries, there is a spectrum that reaches from more to fewer rules and prescribed physical elements. Who is to say how much structure a given person requires before completely trusting in God's Will and having certainty in their Faith at each point in their spiritual growth? It seems to be human nature to hold onto tangible or visible markers to signal to self and to others who they are, or what the aspire to. Thus the externalities (organized religion and its spaces, words, and routines) do have an important role, but for the most mature adherents there seems to be less need or will to grip such things tightly. Instead they hold such things lightly and place their energies on knowing God more directly and in an uncluttered way.

    So that palpable feeling of performative anxiety, spectators' critical eye, and awareness of decorum is not bad of itself. It is OK to sense such things, but then to know that one's expression of worship and loving of God is not the same thing as dressing in church clothes and meeting the expectations of one's perceived betters. Instead, one should strive to streamline the paths leading to God's love and be free from distraction, confusing or overwhelming details.

One way to feel centered and in-tune with the Creator is to begin with the physical layers of one's body: visualize bones (solid), then overlay the circulating blood (liquid), and then overlay the steady breaths in and out (gas). To this physical self then also tie in to the living force of things all around of the natural environment and wider cosmos beyond. Lastly, and given this charged sense of being in the world, listen as God calls your name as one who knows you well; better indeed than anybody else can do.

Image in the late afternoon May 30th sunlight: I pedal past the Catholic church and pass parishioners moving toward the doors in their modest and colorful summer clothing in time for the Saturday celebration of mass. Then I wonder: compared to the primitive Christians who met in one another's homes, having a big organization and prominent location makes for a different experience as leader and as follower.

    Being in the margins and also subjected to persecution --first from orthodox temple Jews, and later from Roman occupiers-- perhaps limited the scope of ambitions and options for engaging the powers that be, and perhaps it caused believers to be ever vigilant and survival oriented. On the other hand, being at the center of what it means to be proper, respectable and surrounded by beauty, eternity, holy righteousness leads to a different experiential impression and the resulting worldview. Being part of the powerful things can be corrupting; can lead to some complacency and perhaps lead to confusion between the organization's glories and the message that Christiantiy carries.

    How then to have the best of both: the hunger of the desperately seeking and the ease and generous heart of those who have arrived at some stability and ease?

Communion - always fresh

My experience of the communion celebration varies from one occasion to another; sometimes because of the form it takes (served at railing by officiants, individual portions passed from plate across all pews, tearing own piece of bread to dip into wine, rustic or camping experience of make-shift elements). Other times it is not the form it takes or the setting in which conducted, but rather depends on the focus or lack-of-focus in my own mind.

    Today I was mindful of several things - the symbolism of the purpley-red juice pressed from grapes (blood as God's; not to be shed by men; something polluting and also sacred; the thing that stands for Christ's living force that was given for all of us), but also the natural beauty and living fruit of the farmer's hand (that synthetic juice would never be as rich and deep as the real thing created from grape, soil, sun and water), as well as being mindful of the humble heart of the recipient of this wonderful creation of God's world held her in the small plastic cup before me. On other occasions different facets of the celebration are foremost in my mind; for example, the preamble words that hearken back to the original communion feast in the Upper Room, the many sided ways that communion is carried out in the many denominations, languages and periods of history among the great and the small. Still other prominent themes that have come into my mind at other times include the awareness of the utter humility with which one should accept the unconditional love carried in the communion action 2000 years (100 generations?) ago; or the specific worries or burdens one may have on a given occasion for things past or things impending.

    No matter the particular mix of motives and attention brought to the taking of the elements, those same words and actions have the power to take on different meanings, time after time.

heart of "searching and wonder"

These two characteristics belong to a person who is actively growing in spiritual maturity; someone who is different to the person they were a month or year earlier. What are some of the other characteristics whereby one can recognize spiritual leadership and maturity? It is often in contrast to the signs and indicators of success in the consumer playing field: not the one with the most toys is the winner, but rather the one whose heart is most open and expressive (not callused) and who wants to get to know God closer and closer. Maturity or growth of spirit includes ability to use the Spiritual Gifts that have been given; to love one's neighbor and oneself equally; to have well developed habits of the heart (prayer alone and together, reading and thinking/writing/talking) and strategies for facing difficulties and engaging openly; of holding discordant ideas in one's mind at the same time.

paradox, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light”

Perhaps this is an artifact of the human need to discover and impute meaning to all things, or the urge to impose logic and thereby to understand a thing on a human scale, but the first part of this quote, “I am the Way” seems to have at least two meanings that don’t seem to agree from a rational perspective.

    One is as an ends (I am…) that you have arrived at: by following or striving to be Christ-like, you are on the right road, so rest easy and search no further (but do keep treading that road). The other is as a means (the Way) that you need to use in order to get to the place you should strive for, but which you won’t reach in any final way; small moments of realization perhaps, but the playing field is constantly in motion, so it requires constant care and feeding. That equilibrium of aspiring, striving, expressing one’s Spiritual Being is what moves one’s maturity forward to a place closer to God.

    So is the emphasis on I AM the Way, or is the emphasis on I am THE WAY? The answer seems to be both/and. The earthly Jesus was an example to fellow creatures to emulate in form and in intent: actions and intention. There is a small element of feeling that you have arrived at the right place (righteous, but not self-righteous), but that now is when the real work begins, now that you are on the right road; it is a long way.

By keeping one eye on God, much like a compass or firm rudder, once may go to all corners of humanity to act on God's behalf. It is sort of like satellite radio for long-distance drivers. The signal is equally strong anyplace you may go; there is no need to search or to fine tune as the locations change. Wrestling with The Word (bible or engagement with others in study and fellowship) generates richer relationships. But while the teachings are precious, the ink and paper of the book are nothing. Thus the high regard for a Bible is not as object of veneration, power, magic or other idol-like worship, but rather it is because the act of personal connection and engagement convicts your sense of purpose. The words are not mere verbal beauty for bystanders, but instead require embrace and response --action (faith without deeds is empty).

    So, yes, do put faith into action. But action does not always mean movement. It can be commitment made internally upon hearing a Bible passage. It can be forbearing not to interject opinions or advice when another person wants only to be listened to. It can be silent witness or fellowship without elaborate verbal articulation, analysis or rationalization.

    Sales professionals and behavioral economists alike say that decisions are sparked by emotional response and that rationalization comes after the fact to shore up the emotional expression. Just so of God's calling - let your response be sparked by emotion, pure and unmitigated by verbal carrots and sticks. That is the best way to be God's agent in His World. No matter which way the winds blow or the current may run, still you may guide by the unchanging star of your maker's love for you in all seasons of life; times of plenty and when the cupboard is bare.

Defining early Jews and Christians

In the middle years of the first century of the Common Era how did the Jesus followers see themselves? How did the varieties of Jews see the Jesus Movement? First it is worth remembering that temple Jews (the ones in Jerusalem with access or awareness of temple matters) may have seen themselves as different to rural Jews. And there were self-aware differences between Pharisees (learned by training) and Sadducees (status predicated on birth connection to the relevant family lines). And there were Zealots and Essenes, as well. Followers of one rabbi or another may further have drawn distinctions between themselve and other followers. And even with a given tradition or locale, there may have been distinction between those who were more secular and those who were more dedicated to knowing God.

    So when Reb Jesus/jeshua was killed (and rose again) and certain Jews (such as those the book of Jesus' brother James is writing to), along with more general 'God Fearers' and former pagans all gathered to form a tradition of Fulfilled Jews [one wonders how Jews today view such a statement; "Judiasm 2.0"?], then who drew lines that defined Jew and non-Jew? After all if the primitive Christians (so-called by Roman authorities?) embraced the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) and loved the same teachings and Creator God, then would there not be reason to consider all under one large tent in common? As establishment types, the orthodox Jews maintain boundaries and distinctiveness not by downplaying small differences in detail, but instead amplifying the things that set them apart from the others. So perhaps the Jews who turned to The Way considered it all one thing: God's People in common. But those of the orthodox traditions continued to exclude such claims of brother/sisterhood.

    The primitive body of believers had no hierarchy, postal address and prominent, public meeting place for so many generations. In the eyes of Roman occupiers it was all a Yaweh tradition, whatever else the locals might say. And at a given time the Romans scapegoated or hunted down the early Christians in certain places. All that changed with the Roman emperor Constantine making Christianity the State Religion in the beginning of the 4th century: untaxed and publicly promoted, now the tables turned and the Jews were relatively excluded and confined  to a smaller society of themselves. All the trapping of public institutional organizing grew and the pyramid structure of governance emerged in an echo of the rational organizational trees of the Roman Empire.

    Thus in the first few generations perhaps there were those Christians, either Jews or others, who considered themselves to be Jews and God's most loved people, whatever the orthodox Jews may say. And then, either with the public prominence of becoming State Religion or sometime before that unveiling, both sides -- the Jews excluding those students of rabbi Jesus, as well as those Jesus followers who saw absolute and irreconcilable differences between their love of God and the traditions of Jewish neighbors-- dug the trench to separate themselves from their spiritual brothers and sisters ----tied to the same creator God nonetheless.

    For the average, not particularly zealous Catholic or Protestant Christian, it probably comes as a surprise that Jesus was a Jew who never saw what he was doing as a split from what was before. And even more of an eye-opener, these same people might recoil at the fact that all the Abrahamic traditions --Jewish, Christian, Muslim-- share the same Heavenly Father and by extension then are in common for their expressions of love to God and to one another.

"Getting" something out of the sermon

Reportedly said to a local minister at the end of the worship service, "Pastor, I didn't get anything from your sermon today." To which the minister responds, ''Is that so. And how did you prepare for the worship today: prayer, reading Bible, praising God in song"?
     The word choice of "getting something" could be viewed with a double meaning: (1) the person did not actively seek out something to grasp and take away or 'own', (2) the person patiently waited to take receipt of something which appeared not to have been delivered; or if delivered was not recognized as such. In other words, to exclaim that I didn't get anything from your sermon today" ironically casts blame in both directions: to say that the speaker failed to communicate something of substance or coherence, but also to say that the listener did not fulfill his or her responsibilities.

Glossolalia or speaking in tongues

Morning Bible study took the theme of one of the rarest of the 20 spiritual gifts that saint Paul wrote of in 1 Corinthians, speaking in tongues. Language specialists have scrutinized this on many cultures of the world, including among the shamanic traditions centering on NE Asia. There are certain formal properties that bear a family resemblance to known language patterns and dimensions, but that is not to say that this is simply a variation on the human communication theme. It might be better to view this as something that falls halfway between music and language; a sort of poetry or verse, rather than narrative or prose. Those with first-hand experience of hearing or speaking note a few things, also echoed in the 4 volume master source for all things Biblical, the international Bible  standard reference encyclopedia.
There are at least two sorts of speaking: that of men and that of angels. In the case of men, the value of relating directly and intuitively to God is to the speaker alone, unless there is another person whose gift is prophecy or interpreting the truth conveyed in the verbal expression. The instructions by saint Paul to the people in the cosmopolitan crossroads town of Corinth spell out what is appropriate and what is false: the speaking should be in its place and orderly, not a flailing interjection that interrupts external order of worship. Above all this is meant for God's glory and not for the performance effect of the speaker. As he says, he'd rather speak 5 words of prophecy than 10,000 of tongues because unless the meaning is understood by those present, it has no effect.
Taking the metaphor that glossolalia is a sort of language, certain properties of communication come to mind to look for there, by comparison: (1) both parties are involved - the one expressing and the one hearing --but do people with the gift of tongues experience hearing, too? (2) Ordinary speaking can be in response to something or can initiate something with some sort of intention or meaning, yet do speakers of tongues engage their thinking selves and express directionality of purposeful strings of meaning, or is the production of phrases spontaneous like jazz improvisation and scat singing; in the zone or flow of the moment? (3) Much of language is conveyed by context and tone of voice, timing and so forth. Even when one does not know a particular human language the meanings can somehow be guessed or comprehended; is this true for the people who hear another person speaking in tongues? (4) Fluency develops with experience and in response to communicative functions faced. So in the course of a person's speaking in tongues, do the utterances grow in length and complexity, or stay more or less the same always?

men’s biblestudy 18 March 2014 - ‘not of this world’ & ‘emotion’

The dictum to "be in the World but be not of the World" is famous among the Society of Jesus (a.k.a. Jesuit Order that the Basque father, St. Ignacious of Loyola, established). Until now this meant to go with the flow but be not caught up in the distracted, consumer world view and consequent separation from God's great "I AM" world of being. After the sermon this past week, though, it seems our minister is challenging us to go beyond treading intrepidly among fellow sinners while keeping ourselves from being consumed by those things. Rather he pushes each person to live in an alternate reality, one filled with God's love for us; a sort of "heads-up display" that helps us to navigate all that comes in front of our field of view. In other words, it is not enough merely to leave the controlled environment of a religious community and venture among the teeming unwashed masses, able to hold simultaneously the dominant secular world view and also the Godly world view. One must also actively cultivate and occupy a world of relationships governed by God's long view of great intimacy and care. A suitable visual illustration might be to walk "with your feet firmly on the ground and your head fully in the clouds." So merely walking with feet firmly on the ground among one's fellow sinners and embodying God's love is only half the task; one must also actively strive to keep one's head in the clouds and reach for the time when "...thy Kingdom come on earth as in heaven."

Another thread of this morning's conversation was about the way that people act first and only later look back to give meaning, reason, authorization or justification for their deeds or words. In other words, much as salespeople experience, most people are motivated by emotion first and supply rationalization through articulating the event only after the fact. Others may frame a decision ahead of time, but once again it is emotion that precipitates the decision.
    If this phenomenon of human action is a general principal, then perhaps it is the same for participation in communal worship and church life, too: emotion (fear, blame, entitlement, joy, eagerness, etc) that triggers one's feet to go worship, including the pleasure of social engagements and giving/getting peers' respect and acknowledgement, as well as the powerful feelings of lyric and musical line, and the shape of a strong sermon.

Spiritual leader? Spiritual maturity? Titus' message from Paul

Here is Titus, verses 7 and 8, where the characteristics of a good elder and bad are listed in order to help guide Titus in keeping the fledgling church in Crete going on the right path. The translation from biblegateway.com is Hawai'ian Pidgin (English): speak the words aloud to get the rhythm and meaning of the lines.

  7 Da guy dat stay in charge, he suppose to be real strait too, cuz he get da job fo take care tings fo God, an den, nobody can poin finga him. He betta not be like da kine guys dat get hard head an no listen to da odda guy. Dose guys, dey get mad fast, dey drink too much, dey like beef everytime, dey no shame fo do any kine fo make money. 8 Da guy dat stay in charge, he betta not make lidat. Wen peopo from odda place come make house his place, he show dem aloha. He feel good inside wen he see good tings happen. He know wat he doing, an he everytime do da right ting. He stay good an spesho fo God all da time. An he stay in charge a how he ack. 

This morning at men's Bible study we talked around and around these lines. One can lead by example, by words, by instruction and so on. And leadership can come as one result of maturity, or the other way around - maturity of spirit is one result of leading others. The part about a leader to "love the Good" seems to mean that there are things well beyond human ideas of what is good, prestigious in the eyes of peers, or what advertisers are proffering as The Good Life.

worship day as part of a Christian-lived week

Sunday is something to dress up and look forward to; not as routine; not as obligation, but as a chance to be unrestrained in praising God together with the company of fellow pilgrims. But this is just a chance to indulge and feel good, or in times of trouble, to find solace and comfort. And if the lessons and teaching scratch an itch or poke a sensitive spot then there is that added bonus: as one of the prolific sermon writing stalwarts of the 1800s would say, "to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." (google attributes the line to diverse sources)
 
But what about the rest of the waking hours in the week? What does it look like (outsider view) to be a follower of Rabbi Jesus, man of the Galilee and carpenter? And what does it feel like (insider view) to walk a Christian walk from day to day in good times and in bad? Seen from the outside there may be times when such a person seems modest about themselves, but perhaps is forthcoming when asked about God (three in one). Polite, tidy, and behaving nicely quickly come to mind in free association of "Christian," but those are incidental to what is going on in the person's heart, whether by habit or with mindful purposefulness.
 
Of course a person grows physically and spiritually in the course of life experiences, whether they are first-hand or observed in others through by-standing, word of mouth, writings or other recordings, fiction or non-fiction, prose or verse, sung or spoken. Perhaps this spiritual maturation follows similar direction no matter the discipline or details of the religion: as a result of firm foundations, the person is able to accept wider and wider divergence from doxa, less black-and-white situations and yet be guided through on a steadfast course. Tolerance for ambiguity and ambivalence expands and the ability to live with doubt or unknowable things grows, too.
 
And so, when asked what it means to be a Christian the rest of the week, outside of worship services and organized or spontaneous acts of charity and love for fellow creatures, perhaps it comes down to this: such a person makes sustained and repeating effort to open her or his heart to hear the Will of God, to be aware of the voice of one's ego or that of the Tempter, and turn the other way and respond to God's call at each instance. Being governed by God's will and the commands to Love God, as well as to Love Your Neighbor as You Do Yourself, certain decisions and reactions from such a person may puzzle someone governed by consumer efficiency or the dictates of maximizing fun or pleasure.
 
So don't miss a chance for fellowship and glorifying God on Sunday morning, but that is not the place where one's Christian road lies. That walk is outside the walls of the worship room.

Infinity is a pretty big place

Although we may reach of analogies or visual shorthand (a drop in an ocean), we simply cannot imagine much less embrace the full meaning of God's power, nature, and presence. Yet perhaps there is no need to attempt to fathom or encompass this infinity. Thinking of the experience of singing with the music, ideally in tune, there is the knowledge that one is part of something big and flowing along in contact with that larger something. Likewise swimming in a river or large body of water, one can be in the flow and know it's embrace entirely without ever wrapping one's arms around the thing. So perhaps that is our lot in this Vale of Tears: seek after God and try to know him better, even as he has known us utterly --from before conception and unto after we are dust. The merest grasp of power, majesty, glory and light connects us to the infinite and thereby renews and refreshes us.

Seeing with the ‘eyes of your heart’ (Ephesians 1: 18-19)

This figure of speech echoes Antoine Saint-Exupery's Mr. Fox when he tells the Little Prince that "It is only with the heart that one truly sees." And perhaps this relates to the idea of wisdom being defined as Discerning God's Will in any given matter - being able to separate one's own will from that of God within oneself and knowing (not 'saber' but 'conocer' in Spanish; or in English not 'head knowledge' but the 'heart knowledge' of personal experience of a thing).

    In order to appreciate the consequence of having more rather than less wisdom, consider the different perception level of an expert versus novice; for example, in the arena of forest management --the expert sees the whole and connection to the parts, as well as the inner workings of each part of the forest as it unfolds on a 12 month cycle and on a generational cycle of succession from one forest-type to another. The novice sees much of a sameness and with imagination probably shackled to the immediate present, not the things that came before and those to follow. As a result of the 'wise' vision, a person can make better decisions and actions.

    Or maybe there could be two experts - one is an analytical consultant of forests, but the other grew up surviving in the seasons of the woodland and sees things in different, but no less sophisticated terms. Comparing those two different kinds of wisdom a different vision emerges and from that follows the available actions and impulses. So there is consequence to pursuing deeper knowledge and wider wisdom in relating to one's Neighbors and one's God. Even though one can never reach the end of the learning process, merely to advance a few steps takes one to the next rise and the resulting view that spreads out before one's eyes.

Your appetites - Do you feel like having God today?

The metaphor of appetite works well not only for sin but for holiness, too:
 
-Some have a big appetite, others don't.
-Some have a craving for it, based on a past experience.
-The description and anticipation can be part of the total experience.
-The setting (decoration, lighting, music, company you share) affects the taste.
-Certain tastes are acquired and at first bite may lead to rejection.
-There can be disorders (unbalanced gorging/purging; peculiar diets) in one's appetite.
-Sometimes the smell is so delicious, the actual taste is a let-down.
-Some prefer to graze continually during the day; others have one big meal.
-Similar ingredients in a casual form taste differently when consumed at formal table.
-One's tastes change from childhood into old age.
-What is most nutritional is not always what is loaded with most flavors.
-Drinking or eating alone is a different experience to sharing the time.
-Certain things pique one's appetite, while others dull it.
-Eating or drinking after a period of fasting (illness or spiritual practice) is deeply fulfilling.
-There is a continuous cycle of hunger, fulfillment and revitalization, return to hunger. One can not consume infinite amount. No matter how rich or poor the need is daily and the allotted amount is limited.
 
Is God on your menu today? Or did you already have that this week?
 
By God perhaps we mean not omnipotence and infinite time and space, but rather Divine Presence or Mindfulness and a grateful heart. Or perhaps appetite for God could mean one's hunger for The Word of God (intellectual engagement; social learning) and a heart of LovingKindness - something that reaches up for transcendence and reaches out for one's neighbor's caring.

Ecclesiastes - Men’s Bible Study Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014

 

1.    "All is meaningless" indicates that purpose, intention, striving and ambition that defers today for tomorrow is mistaken. Instead the best one can achieve is to make the most of each alloted day and each alloted relationship or opportunity to do good. You can not take your accumulated food, goods, or cash equivalents with you after death. Neither can you do anything more lasting and useful than to make a difference in another person's life with a kind word or deed, or being part of an institution that works in that direction. This "in the moment" mindset echoes the "give us this day our daily bread" idea of a moderated or measured amount; not to conserve excess but do use what is at hand. Just so one's striving should be moderated and measured, enough for this day, not for all eternity.

2.    The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism described the way that many adherents see themselves and their peers in material terms; that one's prominence in the world is a sign of one's blessing by God's hand (and absence of material accumulation, by implication, would indicate lack of blessing). Yet Ecclesiastes goes against this by declaring such chasing after the wind to be pointless, meaningless, not of lasting value or enduring significance.

3.    Among the "seven deadly sins" is sloth, with is not so much a slowness to break a sweat in one's task as it is an aimless, distracted or dissipated output. Deadly means "dead to God's way" due to misdirection or falling from the mark (literal meaning of sin is 'missing the target'), not earthly mortality in simple terms. And so, when viewed through the lens of Ecclesiastes, "all is meaningless; chasing after wind," this idea of slothful action fits the picture of endlessly spinning one's wheels and not moving in any direction.

4.    Buddhism teaches one to let go of desires and to seek a mindset of "non-striving," just being right here, right now; fully present and mindful of the glory and majesty of the living things one is part of. Perhaps this "non-striving" (the inverted admonition: Don't just do something, stand there) is consonant with Ecclesiastes since one should strive only one day at a time, not all one's waking hours until statutory retirement age and entitlements or pension kick in.

again - knowledge vs. wisdom

Men's Bible Study is finishing up Book of Job (ch. 38), one of the so-called 'wisdom books' of the Bible.
From here we may go to another from the set, Ecclesiastes, to glimpse more of God's ways; alternatively we may next do Exodus which is among the oldest books, along with Genesis and Job.
 
Knowledge often is about mastery and controlling one's environment/ecosystem. As such it is like the motorboat or steam ship with its self-propelled path.
Knowledge is Power comes to mind, as well; the idea that possessing a particular set of information, organized into useful and actionable chunks will support one's status or authority. In sum, knowledge is about action.
 
Wisdom may contrast these several dimensions: (1) not controlling the terms but instead working with them (judo, not boxing; sailing, not steaming; ballooning not jetting), (2) not power to wield or status to defend, but rather humility and steadfastness, (3) not ownership but a shared commons or connective humanity that implicates all stakeholders, as well as those not directly involved but affected secondarily.

Water to visualize God

Pillar of smoke by day and fire by night is one form God has taken in the Bible. Bright light or burning bush is another form. But there are many qualities of water as found on Earth that give shape to some of the important attributes of God as people have put into words and handed down the generations.

(1) Takes many forms (solid, liquid, vapor, also ?plasma),
(2) Each form that it takes has different properties and powers and contexts,
(3) life-giving,
(4) beautiful, clear and pure,
(5) majestic vastness and precious is a single drop,
(6) a public good or right,
(7) something for all, no matter their status or place in life,
(8) comprising a great part of each person's physical self.