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.

Wordplay - ‘care’

Several words include the root 'care' in them, but the meanings go in sometimes very different directions. Take care (of yourself =be well; of the danger =caution), work with care or carefully (pay attention), care-free (=no worries or anxiety, unconnected to consequences or accountability for one's responses; responsiveness; responsibility), careless (=unconnected to consequence, awareness, feedback, calibration), caring sort of person (=expresses concern for others that is genuine and warm), not to care about - nobody cares - who cares about that (=disinterest or actively turn away in ill will), care-worn (=burdened by the weight of cares).

     The life unexamined, unencountered and not cared about is a dull and hollow thing indeed. The core of following Christ's way centers on one's heart; that engagement with one's neighbors/self and with the Creator. So a by-word for 'heart' could be 'care'. Another expression could be 'paying' or 'giving' attention when listening, when seeking to understand others or to discern God's will. More than money, time or talent, it is giving one's sincerity; care; heart-felt attention that is the coin of the realm in the economy of The Way. This is how one's heart grows, exercises, grows stronger --by giving attention and by receiving the care and interest (respect) of others.

God's servant Job; growing one's heart; 20-20 hindsight

Book of Job --medicine for the heart

Imagine a Venn diagram for the fields of meaning for the words Humble (attitude opposite to self-pride or hubris), Humiliate (to cause a person or other sentient being to give up pretense, status, self-respect, pride and in so doing perhaps to plant seeds of resentment, mistrust, vengeance), and Humus (the detritus broken down to elemental forms on the forest floor). The intersecting parts of these words centers on flattened structure (as opposed to towering edifice) and therefore the easy connection and openness to things adjacent in time or location. But with regard to one's heart of hearts, there is an all-important distinction between humbling oneself and humiliation by an outside force or agent. A parallel distinction can be found between Meek (the Meek shall inherit the earth --powerful but harnessed for gain) and Powerful; or between Righteous (of one's own heart conforming to God's Will) and Self-righteous (governed by one's own will).

A Program to grow one's heart big enough to hold God

As a scaffolding or supporting structure, the person actively pursuing a knowledge and growing familiarity with Gods Ways, there a many life experiences one can recommend (the sequence is something to consider with care, since the seasons of life lend themselves to certain experience before others):

• worship at the houses of many religious traditions to find God no matter the language or customs

• disciplinary practices of the ages: lectio divino, fasting, pilgrimage, seclusion (monastical stint), ?penance or mortification of the fleshly desires, meditations (walking, seated, icon-making, verse chanting, musical sequences)

• compare a handful of key verses across multiple translations to find God no matter the phrasing

• microscopic scrutiny of word roots in key passages to add depth, connotation, and wider resonance of the time then and dynamic equivalence in our times

• missionary experience --participate, organize, present to others, support those afield

• others to add to this list of experiences for spiritual growth?

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The value in "learning from experience" and the sense of In God's Own Time

Experience can be a great teacher and one that does not always require explanation or language to communicate the significance. Likewise, hindsight affords clear vision --either to replay what now appears to be a better response, or else to give a longitudinal scale of understanding so that an isolated wreck can be connected to a series of unfortunate events ahead of time. In any case, since the all-important place where one's ground of being resides is one's heart, then to look back at mistakes and correct them in one's heart does in some way re-remember and rework memory. As such there is some therapeutic value in making meaning, rationalizing, analyzing or discovering remedy to what caused heartache. Just as the loss of one's loved ones does not end the heart to heart relationship, so too of Life Lessons Learned. We profit by replaying past events and by visualizing future events. In a small way this a taste of God's Own Time, where past, present and future all concurrently occupy the same space of infinity.

Sacred Heart is core of Christianity?

There is much in the world that catches the eye or fires one's imagination. So we measure our progress and place in the scheme of things and govern ourselves by external things. And yet "it is only with the heart that one truly sees," according to St. Exupery's Little Prince. That is, we mortals look to tangible things for evidence of being on track or straying into sin. However, as the case of the Widow's Mite tells, what to one person is a pittance to another person is their life's savings. Similarly of Jesus' followers who give all their attention and care, it is the ones who are bereft and have nothing more to lose who have ears to hear with. Others are full of themselves or their belongings and preserve things other than God's Way and hold back from a full embrace of God and of one's neighbor.

     Relationship-ology or Heart-ology might be a better true name for the narrow way of Jesus in the World. What does the primitive church and the Gospels of Jesus show of beginning and growing relationships to full maturity? The idea of discerning a matter through constant vigilance and prayer amid the wide gray spaces of external actions and words, rather than to hew to black and white dogma, very much touches on effects on one's heart; that is, one's relationship to God and to each other. As such relationships can be described and compared: growing closer, growing more intimately known of each other, of seeing past the externalities to what is intended but perhaps not articulated verbally. The quality of a relationship can be spoken of by its strength, longevity, breadth and depth. And some relationships are tied to a place or time, whereas others are for all times and places. As a person or entire body of believers proceeds on a lifecourse of emergent relationships, one leans on fellows both for navigation (to stay on course) and for motivation (to drive forward or reach beyond one's accustomed level of comfort).

    Other words in this exploration of relationship-ology are (self) identity to find the authentic self (since the 1950s, Eric Ericson), muga mushin (Japanese samurai phrase for "no self no heart" to separate the person from the surrounding events of engagement; just 'be' without striving or self-aware reflection), and Carl Jung's discussion of ego (that a person should see beyond this to touch an authentic and larger being. Finally, too, there is the experience of heated conversation, tete a tete, including in a foreign language or mix of one's own language and a foreign one, such that meaning feels like it communicates directly between the people, even though word choice or limitations fail. Perhaps it is tone of voice, non-verbal cues or something telepathic about the other person's intent, but the result is a feeling of direct meaning from one person to the other.

Literacy and the high cost of hand copying the Old and New Testament put an economic and ceremonial scarcity on Holy Books. As dear (expensive; beloved) elements of spiritual practice they were sometimes enshrined, chained or otherwise secured, encrusted in gold and precious stones and so on. And to hear the words spoken was like a faint whisper of God's voice, no matter if pronounced in the vernacular, in the Latin of Imperial Rome, or before that in Hebrew (OT) and Greek plus Aramaic (NT). But when printing and distribution fully develops and literacy speads along with it, access to The Word is less a logistical problem and more of an attention problem since many other printed works are in circulation, as well, and seekers face multiple translations, commentators and experts. In this sense the road of discourse and relationships across and between societies is wider and wider but all the while The Way is as narrow as it was at the time of Rabbi Jesus.

    At the organizational level, too, the primitive church was a small-scale and organizationally flat structure. But as property and edification accumulated one generation after another, the hierarchies and specializations of knowledge and spiritual practices multiplied until one person could not easily feel acquainted with the body of knowledge that has been expanding.

    One big change in the control of access to Holy Words (scripture) and relationships with God was the Reformation by the Protestants and with them the Anabaptists, ultimately with the extreme accountability on the cellular individual that Quakerism expresses as "that of God within each person." Thereby the circle is completed: from the egalitarian Primitive Churches to the layers of hierarchy to administer a giant body of believers and back to the flat structure with each person in relationship to God and to one's neighbors. By shifting the channel of communication away from Mass and the celebrant official, and instead privileging the Words of God (in one's own vernacular, continually being revised in light of growing scholarly understanding) there is meant to be direct access of the person with God and with one another. Any yet The Way remains as narrow as it was in the time of Rabbi Jesus.

Depending on whether you ask Jew, Christian or Muslim, the place where the sacred resides of the holy teachings could be perceived to be in the physical substance with which the human words are carved, scriven or printed; or it could be in the utterances of those human words; or it could be the exact words at the time they were received (ancient Hebrew for Moses; 7th century peninsular Arabdic for The Prophet Mohammad); or it could be the gist of the meaning communicated, no matter the translation (vernacular, Latin, or source texts: Greek & Aramaic NT and Hebrew OT among Christians, for instance).

    And yet, taking Rabbi Jesus as an example, how important would literacy (the written, representational word) be regarded when seeking himself as a Jew of the Fulfilled Law. Would he say that the importance of bringing God's children closer to one another and into living relationship with God the creator lies in written texts, in oral tradition and the teaching stories (parables) and conversations that God's people enter into? Or would he attach special importance to the physical source texts and their material existence? Would the human language in which the relationships are formed with God and with one's neighbor be significant in communicating the full resonance, overtones and undertones, and holiness? Or would these details and the tradition of Kabala (interchanging numbers and letters to discover patterns and relationships) be something that Rabbi Jesus would honor? In sum, WWJS: What (languages) Would Jesus Speak (today)?

Many languages other than English have separate words to 'know a fact' (example, saber in Spanish) and to 'know a person' (example, conocer in Spanish). Educators understand that learning and teaching is a social experience; not a simple transfer of knowledge from master to pupil. As a result, without some care in this regard and laying the groundwork of trust and rapport, a heated or controverisal subject can fall into personal afront or resentment. In other words, the people engaged on different sides of a subject can take the criticisms personally; relationally; disrespectfully.

Grace (undeserved & godly) versus Mercy (undeserved and granted by Allah)

Word roots sometimes give a clue to underlying foundation or undercurrents. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says that GRACE comes from gratia for pleasing, grateful (akin to sigh), while MERCY comes from cost paid or wages (maybe in the sense of being treated or being paid for by someone else). Interestingly the unspeakable name among the Creator God's names that is rendered in condensed form YHVH is supposed to carry the root for a Quality of Grace and Mercy together. Since there is some intersection in the terms, how can they be distinguished or accurately related to each other? Perhaps one is more about the spiritual (pertaining to "Love Your God") and the other is more about the ethical (pertaining to "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself"). In other words, GRACE is between you and God, while MERCY can touch matters of God, but also matters of human justice. (pleas for the one in power to display mercy to the condemned or compromised).

A good deal of Christianity seems to revolve around the idea of God is (agape) love, while Judaism seems fixated on God is holiness, and Islam sees God in terms mainly of The Merciful (in a position of judgement and holding all power). Seeing both words, grace and mercy, through the lens of each of these Abrahamic traditions could be a good way to finely define the terms.

Ownership or Identity or Love?

Curiously these words overlap in some important ways. 2 Timothy 2: 18 says the Lord knows those who are his. This idea of agape love has the mixture of ownership, possession, melding consonant with one's own being or identity on the one hand, and genuine feelings of affection and/or duty and loyalty on the other hand. Understood as intersecting the meanings in this way, the commandment to "Love God with all your heart, and to love your neighber as yoursel" takes on added meaning: Now one should aim to be harmoniously in tune with the rhythm of God's dynamic presence, as well as resonating with the spirit of one's fellows great and small. And to stray out of alignment, out of tune, out of touch, disconnected is again the visual image of 'sin' in its meaning of going off the path and out of the Way - of the Truth - of the Light; it is missing the mark on the target. 

Thus one should own up to being God's child and take possession of the Kingdom that one inherits filled with fellow creatures to care for and lavish with love. This is one's human identity; what one is and is meant to be.

About inviting others to the banquet - we all are beggars together

Despite the conflation of worldly wealth with one's self worth, as if the doing and results were within one's own powers, in the end everything is from God and belongs to God. We may be stewards or big or small wealth, or indeed none at all. So the scene with Pharisee hosting a big banquet (Luke 14:1 and 7-14) teaches that the invitation should not be from one's own largess or noblesse oblige, but rather should be owned by God with the inviter on equal footing to the person(s) invited. Think of the parallet case this past summer when the old remnant cherry trees bore such abundant fruit and we point several people to the locations for their family harvest: "it is 'all you can eat' and God is hosting. Bring a friend, too."

A big part of the task for preachers in the ocean of popular culture predicated on consumer life, "more is better," is to help people to unlearn those habits in order to develop their vision and heartfelt relationships as steward of the planet and its peoples. It is hard work to teach people to receive life's blessings and its burdens in the right spirit; not in the conventional mode of "homo economicus seeking to maximize value."

Got Fruits? “Gaming” the fruits of the Spirit

According to the fruit that is produced, and its quality, you may know the value of the source - whether tree or person. But could the reverse or parallel causality be in effect so that a person who earnestly strives to conform to the list of characteristics that define the Fruits of the Spirit (patience, love, kindness and so on) will "fake it until he makes it"; that is, a person can game the relationship between outer decorum and inner heartland by persevering in the discipline until it becomes second nature for the person.

This attention to externalities to "cause" the internal landscape of the heart the change also lies behind the structured conditons of life and communication in military compounds and religious cloisters. And yet just to go through the motions may be a necessary but not sufficient condition to attain the desired state of mind/heart. That is, if one's "heart is just not in it" then the repeated habits will be hollow; not carried out "like you mean it."

This precondition of entering voluntarily into the enterprise and to make a sincere, good faith effort is the key to real change in one's heart that may truly lead to Fruits of the Spirit that are not forced and rehearsed, but which spring genuinely from the person's interior life as a natural and transparent expression of the person's heart; i.e. his or her relationship to God the creater as well as to the person's neighbors.

In sum there does seem to be an organic connection between the vine and its fruit. But forcing the fruit or grafting it on can only be a temporary likeness of the real thing. Eventually, with enough good faith effort and heart-felt will then genuine fruit may be expressed. Besides this in-built organic connection between interior (one's heart or constellation of relationships) and externalities another human process seems seems to be at play:

Consider the likeness, congruence or consonance between long-established couples, work mates, owners and their pets; or possibly even the resonating identity of a person and the clothes/shoes they wear (stiff and formal lends to a state of mind that fits the same way), the car they drive, the house and other material trappings they surround themselves with, and even the landscape and language they become rooted to. In all these cases what is external does correspond through empathy, induction or some other mysterious process to that a oneness forms to a certain extent. And by implication a boundary of distinction, or exception also forms to distance the person from things that do not suit one's Self, especially when it is diametrically opposite to the things that identify the person.

Taken together, the interior (heart) - externality (fruits of the Spirit) AND the identity of person to her or his social & material environment add up to an opportunity to jiggle the external environment in order to spur the changes in the person's heart. But ultimately the true heart must have the free will (opportunity) and motivation to go forth and bear genuine fruit of the Spirit.

I'm growing more pleased with the habit I'm developing to pray for things big and small.

Being a mere mortal and contemplate the infinity of God may be a fool's errand, but just orienting myself to the glory and keeping in pitch with that cosmic tuning fork has indubitable benefits.

 

When you start to dance to the holy beat, it keeps you from stumbling or losing the rhythm.

[from sermon] do for others vs. do WITH others

25aug2013 [from sermon] do for others; vs. do WITH others (object or service done unilaterally) engage and relate.

     Scripture reading from Luke, tells about Jesus and entourage being hosted at the home of the two sisters, Martha (focused on turning out the food and hospitality) and Mary (sits close to the Master to learn). Modern day story: minister asks campus crowd about ways to be God's hands and feet. They come up with service to give to others (tutor for non-native English speakers; aid to food pantry), but when minister suggests they sit with those alone at the cafeteria to form a momentary or longer growing relationship then the crowd hesitates.
     The difference between one-way giving and two-way interchange seems small when the goal is the same; for example, to better a person's material environment or to relieve disease (medical mission), ignorance (educational mission), poverty (gainful employment opportunities). And yet how vast the difference in terms of risk when the other party can talk back or indeed offer to give you advice, material wealth, or labor/assitance in return.
     Marcel Mauss was fixated on the implied (social, accumulating) debt and the ritual construction of gift-giving (even when coerced, politically loaded, or tactical as in Potlach event in Native American NW Coast; or the wedding obligatory gift bags & gift seasons in modern Japan), as he documented in the 1910s in his book, The Gift. There are also ritualistic elements in daily social contact (greeting, leave-taking, life events: condolences, birthday or graduation congratulations) and responses to serious health threats or high-stakes decisions/performances/events [lucky charms or magical sorts of routines one does in preparation]. So when both parties stand on equal footing and are prepared to benefit the other, rather than power asymmetry coloring the event, the result is more living, personal and impactful.

text & context --quote and reflection

Men's Bible Study dwelt on 1 Tim. 6 and prompted a reference to this quote,

...quoting Dr. Donald A. Carson, professor of New Testament at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and the author of several books, including (interestingly enough) one entitled Exegetical Fallacies.
The full quote, which Dr. Carson ascribes to his father, a Canadian minister, was "A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text."
     A "proof text" was originally a neutral term for the scriptural text that proved (or was seen to prove) a particular doctrine. However, the overuse and even abuse of proof texts (i.e., Quoting Out of Context as an Appeal to Authority) to defend practically any position eventually led to "proof text" taking on a mainly negative―sometimes even pejorative―connotation (Guilt by Association, anyone?).
     So, the original quote makes your point even more strongly: a contextomy used as an appeal to authority is usually misleading. Of course, a false premise does not mean that the conclusion is ipso facto false. We need not commit the Fallacy Fallacy.   [http://www.fallacyfiles.org/quotcont.html]

The same thing is true of sound-bytes and bumper stickers: taking a short segment out of its ecosystem is like cutting off its roots and as a result it can be transplanted or transported any place. Ditto when a person from one culture is transposed to another society ---without the context of material culture and the interactions of one's own native language, the roots and shaping forces are gone. Ditto when a language is translated to another way of talking (and writing). Once the thread of meaning is put into a different language, the meaning is cut off from its rootedness.

a month of Sundays

Retirees sometimes compare the experience of waking up with no alarm clock or urgent race to punch a time clock as "every day is like Saturday." By contrast among Sunday worshipers there is a different feeling of expectation and slight excitement about dressing up and getting ready to sing and shout praises. Now imagine waking up as if every day is a priceless gift to use to best of one's abilities; a precious resource to steward -neither hiding or squandering, but instead usefully building the Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. Start each day like it were a Sunday and a chance to engage with one's maker.

What do you mean, “God just is.”?

Even prominent agnostic thinkers like the late Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins accept that logically the existence of a spiritual creator can be neither be proven or disproven. So to call oneself atheistic in not so much the belief in an absence of God, but more precisely the refusal to venture any position except that One Cannot Know, or agnosis (non-knowledge). So if we travel down the road that supposes a supreme being for a moment, what supports that view? (relying on mortal syllogism and the visible spectrum that amounts to the distance across a dime, say 1.6 cm, on the complete electro-magnetic continuum if scaled from coast to coast of the continental USA)

1. LIke the story of the five blind Indian wisemen each touching a different part of the elephant, our own senses are small and limited, even when helped by technology to extend our thinking, sorting, and pattern-finding. [partiality]

2. Our lifetimes are relatively short and thus we can discover and mature a finite amount while striving to comprehend something that is infinite and an expanding universe that appears from our position to be expanding at an accelerating rate. [mortality]

3. LIke the wind, there are powers that we can't touch or see, but whose effects we accept as real. [indirect signs]

4. As in algebra, one can insert a place holder (call it X) in order to complete the equation and arrive at answers. Similarly of God, we can suppose the creator's abiding presence and with that understanding conduct our lives 'as if' such teachings were true; at least the impetus or root of the teaching may be true, even if the outworking by generations of clever people have allowed customs and spurious matter to creep in and clutter the source idea and meaning.

However, placing one's faith in a given denomination or spiritual teacher does not mean that one's work of searching and vigilance is done. Humans feel an urge to make sense of things, even when that logic is self-reinforcing, small or partial. Yet two conditions must be acknowledged when taking part in a faith community and the traditions it has inherited: one is that God and creation are infinite, so by definition any summary or grasp will impose a boundary on something that is boundless, the other is that things built by humans, including religious institutions and bodies of thought, are prone to falseness whether intended or not. And so one is obliged forever to guard one's trust in any teachings or practices; scrutinize them critically at the same time that you own or accept them on this trial, probationary basis.

Clues to Spiritual Growth

The definition of Spiritual Growth or Maturity is fairly open-ended: faith is deeper, Fruits of the Spirit appear, relationship (of love) with God and with Neighbors develops to full-time and healthy give and take (something like human relationships). Greater wisdom (applied knowledge) and discernment (distinguishing between things that a less mature person fails to perceive or appreciate as significant) are part of one's spiritual growth, too. Of course the whole experience has a time dimension, sometimes compressed when life events accelerate the pace at which one has to respond or process.

    There are also some clues to how to grow:

1. "Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" [awe rather than chills]

2. Faith without deeds is dead. So respond to God's calls, and do so  in love.

3. Deeds without love [loving spirit; charity/karitas] have no effect.

4. Strive to deepen your knowledge, but know that the Infinite can't be grasped fully.

5. The love of money is the root of evil (thoughts, deeds, attitudes)

6. Praise God; Express gratitude of God.

7. Accountability to propel one forward: daily devotional time (pray or study), participate in small group (book group, discussion, activity or service group), and identify at least one mentor you look to emulate, as well as at least one mentee who relies on you to emulate.

8. "Rearview mirror": even if one's present stage of growth is hard to quantify or compare to role models and one's peer groups by directs inspection or introspection, perhaps an indirect view will work; that is, adjudge one's responses to the events of life and the obstacles one reacts to. Where once the spiritual beginnier may have been governed by knee-jerk responses to a stimulus, another person with more life experience and with more of the above list of defining components of spiritual maturity will have different responses to a stimulus. Perhaps they react in a longer time-frame, or reflect and pray before taking action, or deliberately take inaction as a form of decision. Perhaps they are governed by their hearts and defy human or at least consumer (zero sum game) logic; hearts that share space with God and a love of their fellow persons. This indirect way may be one way to gauge one's maturation, like looking at things through a rearview mirror, or by the shadows being cast rather than viewing the subject directly. In this indirect way, then, perhaps one my find indicators that allow a comparison of one's self now to an earlier self, and to speculate on still further maturity by extrapolation of what more maturity might look like and feel like, indeed to speculate on some final destination: how far has a mortal mind ever matured along these lines? Can one ever be fully mature and be more of God than of self?