voluntary

-Tertullian. in his 2nd century defense of Christians, remarks how Christian love attracted pagan notice: "What marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness. 'Only look,' they say, 'look how they love one another'" (Apology 39).

-The Apostle John said in his first letter “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

God is love.

Outside of prayer and meditation on the idea of ‘God is love’, I began to study the depth of this statement as well. While reviewing the definition for the word ‘love’ – agape in the Greek – I wrote down two words in my journal that caught my eye. The first word was unconditional and this word is continually something I am learning about both by definition and experience. The second word I wrote down was voluntary.

Voluntary is defined in a couple of ways:

(1a) done, given, or acting of one's own free will; (1b) law (of a conveyance or disposition) made without return in money or other consideration.
(2) an organ solo played before, during, or after a church service. A piece of music performed extempore, esp. as a prelude to other music, or composed in a free style.

If we combine the definitions for voluntary, it might read something like: the disposition of a person who gives extempore of one’s own free will without return or other consideration not just as a virtue, but as a way of life.

Voluntary is not only a disposition, but it is a musical art form. It is a free style, improvisational piece of music (based on the prepared music) that happens before, during and after a church service. It’s like a spontaneous, extended introduction to a song. It’s based on the prepared song that you are about to perform, but it is a spontaneous expression – a sort of personal touch – that the musician adds because of their deep connection to the prepared song.

Similarly, as ‘voluntary’ is a musical art form, it should be a way of life and living for you and me. Because we are so deeply connected to the Song, the prepare music – that being Jesus – we are continually ready to create a spontaneous piece of music or a spontaneous action of love through our very being and living. Love, as defined by Jesus’ life, is unconditional and voluntary. Love has no agenda, no strings attached and it is an action that is a spontaneous – almost second nature – expression and response to daily living.

born again

For many in the southern US, the words ‘born again’ have become trite and their meaning is buried along side the epitaphs of other words such as: homecoming, revival and alter call. Yesterday, many others and myself observed 4 people begin or renew their relationship with Jesus at the end of our Sunday morning gathering. At the end of gathering, our pastor mentioned that we had witnessed the miracle of ‘new life’ and he quoted 2 Corinthians 5:17-18. The Apostle Paul writes that we are a ‘new creation’. To be a new creation, means that we not only begin again, but we begin with a new person, a new identity. In a culture where the basic and foundational idea of being ‘born again’ has been abused and or neglected – hence, rendering it lost – there’s no doubt that a new follower of Jesus will be tripped up on the idea of having a new identity.

Because the idea of being ‘born again’ has so many different cultural definitions depending on your denominational slant or where you grew up, I tend to view a new relationship with Jesus like someone who is waking up from having a severe case of amnesia. You don’t really know who you are – in the eyes of God. It’s an identity crisis – and a big one at that.

To be ‘born again’, is to be born into the identity that God had for you before you were in your mother’s womb. Your identity crisis happened upon your physical birth into this world, you were born into a fallen humanity. You were born with amnesia. It’s not your fault, it just is. But now that you’re aware, you have a responsibility to attend to. Regardless of your age, being awakened out this state of amnesia and into this new life (new responsibility) is a paradox. It’s amazing and horrifying, refreshing and overwhelming all at the same time. You’ll find that paradox is an essential element in God’s Kingdom, much like oxygen is to earth.

There probably is a practical way to get reacquainted with both yourself and Jesus, but that’s not my area of expertise. My journey has been one of simply making it up as I go along. There have been times of incredible joy and times of overwhelming depression and yet in all of it, I found peace. More than any of the emotions that I felt, the presence of Truth brought a peace that passes all understanding. To know the Truth is everything, but we must start by knowing ourselves.

Know Thyself. Yes, it is a Greek philosophy, but it begins the process of unraveling how we, as humans, have adapted our personalities to our surroundings. Our surroundings are a fallen humanity. There are two areas of self that Christians – both new and old who are pursuing their new identity - should be aware of: calculating and competitive.

Calculating Self: Each child in a family stakes out her own territory of attention and importance by developing certain aspects of her character into “winning ways”. One child may be sociable and outgoing, another may be quiet and thoughtful, but both are aimed at the same thing: to find a safe and identifiable niche in the family and the community and to position themselves to survive. Anxiety regulates behavior and alerts the child to the dangers of being one-down, unattended to, or at a loss. A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for or, in others words, as the set of patterns of action and habits of thought that get him out of childhood in one piece. That set, raised to adulthood, is…the calculating self. (from the book “The Art of Possibilities” by Rosamund Stone Zander)

Competitive Self: “Our whole sense of self is dependent upon the way we compare ourselves with others and upon the differences we can identify. It is upon these positive or negative distinctions that much of our self-esteem depends. It does not take much reflection to realize that in all family problems, ace conflicts, class confrontations, and national or international disputes, these real or imaginary distinctions play a central role. Thus, we define ourselves in ways that require us to maintain distance from one another. Giving up dividing lines and relinquishing difference and distinction would mean losing our identities!” (from the book “Compassion” by Henri Nouwen)

Both of these are products of a progressive society. At the root of both the calculating self and the competitive self is the idea of usefulness. Are you useful? Do you contribute to society? If not, what’s wrong with you? If so, how much? It’s a never-ending spiral of continually trying to prove yourself and to prove your worth. It drives you to create an identity around what you see helps you survive and also, around what you see makes you distinct from others. It is a created and manufactured identity and because you created it, you must sustain it. You can see how by just trying to sustain this type of manufactured identity it leads to the many physical and mental disorders that we see today.

To be awakened from the state of amnesia is to have Jesus call you by name. Those whom Jesus has called He has set free and they are free indeed. But that freedom has a responsibility and that responsibility is a constant quest for the truth. The truth about who we really are in the eyes of our Father, God. The truth about what He has destined us to do with our lives. The truth about how that destiny is to assist in building a new humanity or the kingdom ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.

To be ‘born again’ is to be woken up by Jesus and realize that you have a lot to learn about both Him and yourself. The paradox is that as you learn about Him, you learn about yourself as well. Our identity is His identity. We find ourselves in Jesus and eventually, He finds himself in us. It’s not something we create; it’s something we find through an ongoing quest for our new identity.

Enjoy the journey.

postlude [9.18.07]

To suffer with…

Compassion is the essential element to real life. Real life and real living involve active friendship and community. For a follower of Jesus, compassion goes beyond virtue. It is much more than a behavior we present to others – it is the Presence that presides within us.

Compassion requires a constant awareness of the ongoing choice.

It is the choice to suffer with our friends or not. It is the choice to enter into real life with others or not. It is the choice to build community around our common humanity or not. It is the choice to suffer with the One whom suffered for all humanity or not. We 'suffer with Christ' or not.

In the human body, all real power and strength come from the 'core'. In that way, compassion is the 'core' of the Body of Christ. It is the source of real power and strength for those who follow Jesus because it reflects Him the most.

To follow Jesus is to live life with compassion.

friendship [a lost art]

While trying to gain a fresh perspective on what it really means to be in community with other folks, I’ve come to realize a deficiency in my life: friendship. Not so much having friends, but being a friend. Like so many things in life that are meaningful, being a friend involves sacrifice. It is a sacrifice of time, convenience and self.

Simple friendship is a lost art in a world that equates progress with efficiency (the conquering of time) and convenience. It’s quite a paradox to live in a world where we spend countless hours developing ways to make life more convenient – in hopes of creating more time for ourselves – yet, we end up being lonely and isolated. If we are honest with ourselves, you and I cannot conquer or create time. Time is and will always be, whether we are breathing or not. Instead of focusing our attention on what we have control over – that being our actions – we tend to focus our attention on trying to control that which we cannot – that being time. What would happen if we exerted more energy thinking about how to sacrifice time, rather than how to conquer it?

Pure friendship is a lost art in a world defined by agendas or conditions. “Friends…check” is a lyric at the end of John Mayer’s song Something Missing and it might as well be a modern-day mantra for how most of us actually view friendship. It’s just another item on our checklist. We – and I include myself in this – like the idea of having friends, but actually being a friend is quite a different matter. The idea of having friends is an agenda – it serves our ego and personal purposes. To be a friend or to be anything requires of us attention and intention. It demands that our attention be on our neighbor and that our intent is to serve our neighbor. Pure friendship requires sacrifice of self.

Admittedly, friendship is continually on the verge of becoming less of a reality and more of an ideal for me. Like many people, I’m self-centered, yet, my admission does nothing without action to the contrary.

postlude [9.4.07]

“The calling on my life is…”

For many of us, the word or thought of a ‘calling’ is a bit elusive. At best, confusing. For those of us who live in the southern United States, we’re surround by vocational ministry, or “professional Christians”. Having said that, it’s easy to think that a ‘calling’ is – in some way – vocational.

When Jesus called Peter and Andrew, as well, when He called James and John, the ‘calling’ was more of an invitation into relationship and friendship, rather than a solicitation for employment.

If a ‘calling’ is an invitation into relationship with Jesus, then, is it really connected with how we make a living? Or, is it more the way in which we live our life?

Like the love of Jesus, isn’t His calling to us also unconditional? In some ways, is it possible that vocational ministry simpler, more cut and dry? Maybe; maybe not. For those of us who are not working in the context of vocational ministry, don’t fall prey to the notion that our responsibility to minister in our every day life isn’t less? It reminds me of what my mom used to say “bloom where you are planted”.

We are called to relationship both with God and with each other. This is our calling. This is our life together. This is The Way.

Lord, help us break out of the forms of what we call church, community and relationship with your Son and relationship with one another. Help us, Lord.