email: whitpresby@mindspring.com
Spiritual readings "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"
Nov. 2002 Emails
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Language about God |
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Prayer for elections |
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Trusting the process |
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Worship |
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Language about God |
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Healing & relig practice |
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Interfaith peace |
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Popular Mechanics Face of Jesus |
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The Limits of Spiritual disciplines |
What language do we use to speak about God and how do we understand that language? The answer we give to these questions will tell us much about our faith. In his book of 1997 entitled “Stealing Jesus,”(Three Rivers Press, New York) Bruce Bawer speaks about this issue of language.
We need to … “…understand the nature of Christian belief (we must…) recognize that EVERY religious statement is a metaphor, a stab in the dark, an attempt to express in human words something that lies beyond human understanding or expression. To choose a religion is to choose a set of metaphors that comport best with the promptings of one’s own instincts and conscience and that seems to point most truly, virtuously and beautifully to the ‘depth of reason’.”
I would point out that often, we are chosen by a religion, less than doing the choosing. Yet the meaning of Bawer’s words remain whether we are chosen by or choosing. How do you speak of God? How do your language and your metaphors shape your personal faith? A occasional reflection and self-examination serves us well.
Grace & peace
Geoff
One of the Psalms appointed for this morning is Ps 24. As I read through it, I thought about our election today. Here is a prayer for elections taken from the Episcopalian Book of Common Prayer. The parentheses are my additions.
Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (and our states and communities) in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation (and communities) be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
To which I would add something about the propositions and ballot measures that each state and community include.
I trust you all will be getting out to vote and encouraging those you know to do the same. Our spiritual lives contain an element of action in this world and participating in elections, where they are held, is an important part of our religious responsibilities. May you find the spiritual and worldly intersecting in your life today.
Grace & peace
Geoff
In our current class of Daily Bread, we are using the spiritual discipline of journaling as a supplement to the introduction to the gospel of Matthew. Here is an excerpt from a book on journaling, “Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest,” by Christina Baldwin, Bantam Books, New York, 1991. This is a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke from his “Letters to a Young Poet.”
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves….Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
There is a sense of ‘trust the process’ in these words that I would rephrase to ‘trust the Lord’ as we venture on our spiritual journey. There is patience and trust in these words, two qualities that make for a better and deeper spiritual life.
May you find greater trust and patience, that deeper spiritual life, as you live into your future.
Grace & peace
Geoff
I’m sending this out a day early due to some schedule issues that will prevent me from sending it tomorrow. Sitting in worship yesterday I thought about what we do each week (sometimes more often) in the Christian Church. Here are some brief words on worship from Kathleen Norris, from her “The Cloister Walk,” Riverhead Books, New York, 1996.
“(We…) forget that Christian worship is not primarily a gathering of the like-minded but a gathering of people to be with one another in the acknowledgment that human existence originates in and is drawn towards love.”
How do you understand worship? Do you picture or think about God as love? This perspective may give you a new sense of the value of worship. May your life ever be drawn toward God/love, and may others sense the role of God/love in your life.
Grace & peace
Geoff
We use language to express ourselves and to describe the world around us. Language about God is important in that it either helps or hinders our spiritual growth or relationship with God. One of my favorite Pop singers is Beth Orton. On her latest CD (“Daybreaker” Heavenly recordings, AstralwerksASC39918) she has a song entitled “God Song.” Here is just a part of what she says there.
“My house was built for loving not a theatre of war I take the poison for the cure But he’s my man and I’ve been doing him wrong….”
“He’s my man….” What a way to talk about God! Sounds like a refrain from an old Blues song. Yet if we could find ourselves comfortable with that kind of language it would mean a deeper level of intimacy and relationship with God. As we look at the world around us, and work at fitting our relationship with God into it, may we find the kind of comfort that we need and seek. May we find the right words, the words that fit for us.
Grace & peace
Geoff
How are faith and health related? That is a big topic, but I found some interesting statistics about the relationship in Larry Dossey’s book “Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine” Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1993. He finds these correlations between health and religious practice.
“When measuring participation in the ceremony, social support, prayer and relationship with God that religion brings,92 percent of the studies showed benefit for mental health, 4 percent were neutral and 4 percent showed harm. For physical health the findings are similar, 83 percent showed benefit, 17 percent were neutral and none showed harm.”
One hundred percent would be nice, put these figures indicate some of the value of practicing our faith. Note that these figures involve participation, getting active, involved, at least in attending worship or other activities. Having beliefs is one thing, acting them out often the more important part.
How does your faith act itself out? Are you among the large numbers of the healthy, indicated above? If not, take heart, Jesus tells some great stories about seeking the lost and coming only to those who need help.
Grace & peace
Geoff
Someone in the church recently loaned me a timely book, “Abraham; A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths,” by Bruce Feiler, William Morrow publishers, New York, 2002. In the opening chapter he reports on a dialogue with someone he met in Jerusalem.
“So can God be manifest in the world?”
“You could not have written a script that would say that today, after thousands of years with all our technology and sophistication, we would still be fighting a war over this place, over the legacy of Abraham. But the reason is that this is the place of relationship. This is not only the spot where it is possible to connect with God, it’s the spot where you can connect with God ONLY if you understand what it means to connect with one another.”
“The relationship between a person and another human being is what creates and allows for a relationship with God. If you’re not capable of living with each other and getting along with each other, than you’re not capable of having a relationship with God.” He gestured up at the Wall, the Dome, the churches. They were illuminated in man-made light now, their brilliance a little too sharp.
Then he turned back to me. “So the question is not whether God can bring peace into the world. The question is: Can we?”
We here in Whittier are holding our Community Thanksgiving Service tomorrow evening at the local Synagogue (see the announcement below) and for the first time, we are having Muslim participation. We are making an attempt, however feeble, to live out our faiths with a public demonstration that in some way at least address the question at the end of Feiler’s quote.
How does your faith call you to be in relationship with others, particularly those of other faiths?
Grace & peace
Geoff
Ever wonder what Jesus looked like? Many do in an image and face-fixated culture like ours. Even “Popular Mechanics” seems to have an interest! A recent (Dec. 2002) issue of has a bold cover stating “The Real Face of Jesus: Forensic Science Reveals the True Image of Jesus” It was an intriguing article, but the face of Jesus they projected was a huge disappointment. I was reminded of a deer in the headlights. I was also reminded of some words by David F. Ford in his 1999 book “Self and Salvation: Being Transformed,” Cambridge University Press.
“A face is a distillation of time and memory. Think of the face of someone important to us and it conjures up past events, stories and associations, a world of meaning. It can reach into the future too, with plans, hopes and fears. Imaginatively, we rehearse our lives and intentions before the faces of those we respect, fear, love or otherwise take special notice of or want to impress. What faces do we have habitually in our hearts? Might that be one of the best clues to our identity? Pleasing our parents, bringing up a child, impressing our peers, asserting ourselves against those who threaten or compete, together with many more complex and nuanced motives and desires, are linked to people deeply imprinted on our memories. We perform our lives before them, consciously or not. How are you related to your face? Why does that sound a rather odd question? Partly because it does not ring true in separating face and self. Yet it would also seem odd to identify face and self. Obviously you are more than the outside of part of your head. Yet that last phrase is clearly inadequate as a description of the face. To meditate on the face is to find an approach to a range of key questions about the self. The face often seems to be a pivotal ‘interface’ between two aspects of the self.
In the background for me are the words of 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
As you ‘face’ the challenges in your life, may you find blessings in the faces of others, and may your own face radiate blessing to those around you.
Grace & peace
Geoff
An article in the Nov. 18, 2002 issue of “The Presbyterian Outlook” caught my attention. These emails are often involved with spiritual disciplines, so the title interested me. In an article entitled “The Limits of Spiritual Disciplines,” the writer, Rev. Raymond R. Roberts, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, PA, addresses spiritual disciplines from the classical Reformed perspective. I found the article stimulating, challenging and enlightening. If you can get a copy of it, I encourage you to read it. Here is my skeletal summary outline.
“…Protestants have always been suspicious of the spiritual disciplines…..It is critically important for American Christians to recover the spiritual disciplines as a means of moral formation. As we do so, we need to deal honestly with their limits.”
“One thing that the spiritual disciplines cannot do is to establish a relationship with God…..Our relationship with God depends on God’s grace in Jesus Christ, given to broken people like you and me….The spiritual disciplines express our relationship with God, but we should not look to them as a way to reach God or as a way to heal a broken relationship with God. Only God can do that—and has done that in Jesus Christ.”
Another thing the spiritual disciplines cannot do, of themselves, is make us better people….it is important for us not to think of the spiritual disciplines as spiritual self-help….(when we do this) we lose sight of God.”
Perhaps we can compare the spiritual disciplines to working out in a gym….(the disciplines) can be a means through which God helps us grow spiritually….If we come to believe that our spiritual growth merely reflects our effort, then we haven’t grown at all.”
The spiritual disciplines can form a moral sensibility and make us more Christ-like. (He then quotes Philippians 2:12-13: “…work our your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to God’s good purpose.”)
I have spent 25 years in ministry emphasizing and training spiritual disciplines. Amen to Rev. Roberts. It is wise for us often to ask ourselves critical questions of what we are doing and why, even in the supposedly ‘holy’ area of spiritual disciplines.
Grace & peace
Geoff
