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Sacred love--that's the topic of chapter 5 in The Jesus Creed. It is a powerful chapter and my brain is swirling with connections. Even from Hosea, one of my old favorites from the mid-70s when I came across the book "In The Shadow of Gomer." This is not Gomer Pyle, now, but Hosea's prostitute-wife. It was a powerful book ... I loaned it to someone ... I hope they were really blessed, because they never returned it. ;^)
I have a couple of thoughts that are really grabbing me today: learning to love self and that the root of sin is dishonoring God's sacred love. There's more, of course, but that's what I'm going to restrain myself to share today.
So let's start with learning to love self. This is what I wrote in my Jesus Creed Journal: "'Mission' is everywhere and always going on because the first mission of God is to secure in us the knowledge of his sacred, all-consuming, love for us, so that we can return that love to him and can share it with others out of our abundance. Wow."
I wonder whether anyone else hits fog banks that hide Abba's never-let-you-go love. It's not that I don't know of his love...it's that sometimes I let things fog my glasses (like when you open the oven on a cold day--poof! Instant fog!) and then I can't see it.
Takes me back to The Five Love Languages and the concept of the love tank that is not full. And I wonder whether I have an undiscovered hole in my love tank out of which Abba's love is leaking out, and I don't seem to be able to overflow.
That turned deep even as I was typing....
It must be a purple hole ... or better yet, maybe it is being siphoned off? Some part of the pain and suffering around me that sucks it up without my being fully aware of it. I'll have to ponder that one for a little longer....
I'm praying that Papa will help me, somehow, lean into him deeply enough to feel him leaning back. How do we reconcile the trusting and the feeling? The faith and sight? The walk is simple, but it is the path that is difficult.
Okay, coming up for air ... whew!
The other thought is that the root of sin is when we dishonor God's Sacred Love--for us and for others. This is how I have defined sin: breaking covenant with God and others. Whatever is not done to faithfully provide for the best interest of the other is breaking covenant.
But we have turned "sin" into "evil behavior" and something that good, honest, kind, generous and moral people don't see as relevant to them. When the truth is that sin is not honoring God's Sacred Love for us, receiving it, returning it, and passing it on. It is as much omission as commission -- omission in the days before we knew of his Sacred Love, and commission when we treat it disrespectfully.
This is the "sin" that separates us from God, not our evil acts. Papa is especially fond of each and every cracked Eikon and want reconciliation and restoration, not judgment and damnation.
...well, this is deeper than I can process at the moment.
Leaning farther into Papa.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Love Feast at Jesus' Table
I'm a little worked up about this whole topic of table and culture and manners and hospitality and all ... can you tell?
If I had a dollar for every Communion Meditation where I was led to examine my heart and see if I was eating in a worth manner, I'd be rich.
Not that it is not important to examine our hearts and repent of impure motives. Don't misunderstand me, now. But we are not worthy to take the bread and cup by what's in our hearts alone. It's whether we're living the Jesus Creed -- whether we're loving God and loving others.
Let's take a moment to read that important passage from the 11th chapter of I Corinthians:
I'm certainly not going to unpack that all in this wee post ... but I do hope that you will see that the Corinthians were having a problem with living the Jesus Creed -- and at Jesus' Table, no less! What happened to loving their neighbor as themselves?
Certainly this is what the Apostle Paul was speaking to when he asked them to examine themselves before they eat and drink at the covenant renewal ceremony Jesus instituted so that we would remember how much he and Papa loved us -- and that we could be healed by receiving that love in the bread and the cup as well as by sharing it with our brothers and sisters.
I say that we take our cues from the host concerning how to treat our fellow guests ... so that our table manners give off accurate physical cues concerning Papa's new society -- one of grace and inclusion and restoration and and transformation.
Turning away those Papa has invited because they don't measure up to our standards -- well that just isn't proper.
Okay, rant over!
Leaning on Papa.
If I had a dollar for every Communion Meditation where I was led to examine my heart and see if I was eating in a worth manner, I'd be rich.
Not that it is not important to examine our hearts and repent of impure motives. Don't misunderstand me, now. But we are not worthy to take the bread and cup by what's in our hearts alone. It's whether we're living the Jesus Creed -- whether we're loving God and loving others.
Let's take a moment to read that important passage from the 11th chapter of I Corinthians:
The Lord's Supper
17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
I'm certainly not going to unpack that all in this wee post ... but I do hope that you will see that the Corinthians were having a problem with living the Jesus Creed -- and at Jesus' Table, no less! What happened to loving their neighbor as themselves?
Certainly this is what the Apostle Paul was speaking to when he asked them to examine themselves before they eat and drink at the covenant renewal ceremony Jesus instituted so that we would remember how much he and Papa loved us -- and that we could be healed by receiving that love in the bread and the cup as well as by sharing it with our brothers and sisters.
I say that we take our cues from the host concerning how to treat our fellow guests ... so that our table manners give off accurate physical cues concerning Papa's new society -- one of grace and inclusion and restoration and and transformation.
Turning away those Papa has invited because they don't measure up to our standards -- well that just isn't proper.
Okay, rant over!
Leaning on Papa.
Abi's Lent: Day Six
Table time ... such a challenge with three young boys and a broken mother. I am totally willing to own every crude manner and lack of social graces my boys have because, well, I just haven't been a very good teacher ... of social graces, that is. I am a very good teacher of many other things, and we won't go into belching championships, or anything like that -- at least not today!
But I just love what Scot has to say in chapter four about Jesus and Table Time ... and, yes, it totally took me back to The Shack and the fabulous Table Time there with Papa and Jesus and Sarayu.
The important thing to remember is that Jesus invites us to Papa's table -- and not just those with clean hands and proper manners, either. Because being at their table makes us clean ... the presence of Jesus sanctifies us. He invites us to the table for our benefit, not his. So that we can be fed and healed.
How is it that we get so many things backwards? Not that clean hands and good manners are not good things, because they are. But their lack is not supposed to disqualify us from joining in and being loved.
Clean hands ... another qualifier for being worthy of God's love? Sigh....
Scot talks about Jesus creating an alternative reality with his table time. The Shack gives very vivid pictures of what he's talking about, at least for me. And the message is loud and clear:
Papa loves you so that you can learn to love him enough that you can love yourself and, in turn, love others. There is no more powerful place for this lesson that at the table. Your table at home and The Lord's Table ... and I'll have to unpack that one when I have a bit more time.
...running to pick up my boys. Sure do love those boys somethin' awful. May not be the best mannered, but you would be hard pressed to find better loved boys.
Leaning on Papa.
But I just love what Scot has to say in chapter four about Jesus and Table Time ... and, yes, it totally took me back to The Shack and the fabulous Table Time there with Papa and Jesus and Sarayu.
The important thing to remember is that Jesus invites us to Papa's table -- and not just those with clean hands and proper manners, either. Because being at their table makes us clean ... the presence of Jesus sanctifies us. He invites us to the table for our benefit, not his. So that we can be fed and healed.
How is it that we get so many things backwards? Not that clean hands and good manners are not good things, because they are. But their lack is not supposed to disqualify us from joining in and being loved.
Clean hands ... another qualifier for being worthy of God's love? Sigh....
Scot talks about Jesus creating an alternative reality with his table time. The Shack gives very vivid pictures of what he's talking about, at least for me. And the message is loud and clear:
Papa loves you so that you can learn to love him enough that you can love yourself and, in turn, love others. There is no more powerful place for this lesson that at the table. Your table at home and The Lord's Table ... and I'll have to unpack that one when I have a bit more time.
...running to pick up my boys. Sure do love those boys somethin' awful. May not be the best mannered, but you would be hard pressed to find better loved boys.
Leaning on Papa.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Abi's Lent: Day Five
Chapter 3 of The Jesus Creed starts with two readings from scripture: The Lord's Prayer and The Prodigal Son. I was particularly pleased to see the emphasis Scot makes concerning the focus on the parable is on the father, not either of the sons. I have heard it suggested that this should more rightly be called the parable of The Prodigal Father, in the sense that prodigal doesn't necessarily connote anything bad -- it connotes extravagance that verges on wasteful.
And this, of course, takes me back to The Shack -- and a vision of a Heavenly Papa whose love is so extravagant that some might consider it wasteful. Jonah has this same problem with God, who wanted to redeem the horribly sinful people of Ninevah. Jonah was incensed that God would not rather torch the city ... even after the king and all the residents of that city repented of their sins!
So the struggle continues -- the struggle to believe that God does indeed love us! Not only do we struggle to believe it, we struggle to then live in that love. We are surprised that Papa seems to be awfully fond of, well, everybody! Even those who are in open rebellion against him! What's up with that?!?
But the love of a Papa (or Mama ;^) ) for his precious one-of-a-kind children is, indeed, prodigal. It is wildly extravagant. And so some will find it shamefully wasteful ... but only if they see it as a scarce commodity (put on your economics hat with me and Michael Kruse). We have troubles with power when we see it as scarce and we have trouble with love in the same way.
Papa's love, however, is not scarce. It is both abundant and eternal -- endless. Papa's love for us, as well as his ability to love through us, is only limited by our perception.
So many simple truths are so hard to wrap our brains around....
This bring us to the importance of seeing Jesus begin his prayer with Abba Pater -- Papa. A journey to my "Little Kittle" reveals that Abba is Aramaic "familiar" for father, but that the Jews almost never used it for God. Here we see Jesus stirring the pot, as it were.
Earlier I said that I didn't see Abba in The Lord's Prayer ... because it is not there. It is found in Mark's account of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. It makes sense to me that Mark would include the Aramaic, since his gospel is the one which gives us these colloquialisms. And that other scholars would suggest that whenever Jesus was using "Pater" he was saying "Abba" and it was being translated into Greek.
Hmmm...does Greek have a familiar for "pater"? That's a word study for another day!
After pondering Scot's ideas about The Lord's Prayer, I began to ruminate about our response to Papa and his prodigal love. It occurred to me that if we cannot extravagantly love Papa as a response to his love for us, we cannot love others -- because we have not accepted that we can love ourselves. This is a deep thing....
Last night I posted my version of The Lord's Prayer, which resulted from this deep pondering. And I changed my closing to "Leaning on Papa" because I realized that we can receive Papa's love only in Christ, when we trust the love that serves the best interest of the other -- regardless of the wastefully extravagant cost. A very cHesed realization, indeed.
Leaning on Papa.
And this, of course, takes me back to The Shack -- and a vision of a Heavenly Papa whose love is so extravagant that some might consider it wasteful. Jonah has this same problem with God, who wanted to redeem the horribly sinful people of Ninevah. Jonah was incensed that God would not rather torch the city ... even after the king and all the residents of that city repented of their sins!
So the struggle continues -- the struggle to believe that God does indeed love us! Not only do we struggle to believe it, we struggle to then live in that love. We are surprised that Papa seems to be awfully fond of, well, everybody! Even those who are in open rebellion against him! What's up with that?!?
But the love of a Papa (or Mama ;^) ) for his precious one-of-a-kind children is, indeed, prodigal. It is wildly extravagant. And so some will find it shamefully wasteful ... but only if they see it as a scarce commodity (put on your economics hat with me and Michael Kruse). We have troubles with power when we see it as scarce and we have trouble with love in the same way.
Papa's love, however, is not scarce. It is both abundant and eternal -- endless. Papa's love for us, as well as his ability to love through us, is only limited by our perception.
So many simple truths are so hard to wrap our brains around....
This bring us to the importance of seeing Jesus begin his prayer with Abba Pater -- Papa. A journey to my "Little Kittle" reveals that Abba is Aramaic "familiar" for father, but that the Jews almost never used it for God. Here we see Jesus stirring the pot, as it were.
Earlier I said that I didn't see Abba in The Lord's Prayer ... because it is not there. It is found in Mark's account of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. It makes sense to me that Mark would include the Aramaic, since his gospel is the one which gives us these colloquialisms. And that other scholars would suggest that whenever Jesus was using "Pater" he was saying "Abba" and it was being translated into Greek.
Hmmm...does Greek have a familiar for "pater"? That's a word study for another day!
After pondering Scot's ideas about The Lord's Prayer, I began to ruminate about our response to Papa and his prodigal love. It occurred to me that if we cannot extravagantly love Papa as a response to his love for us, we cannot love others -- because we have not accepted that we can love ourselves. This is a deep thing....
Last night I posted my version of The Lord's Prayer, which resulted from this deep pondering. And I changed my closing to "Leaning on Papa" because I realized that we can receive Papa's love only in Christ, when we trust the love that serves the best interest of the other -- regardless of the wastefully extravagant cost. A very cHesed realization, indeed.
Leaning on Papa.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Abi's Lent: Day Four
Well, I had a wonderful time in Chapter Three -- three pages of notes!
Lots of very good thoughts to share about the importance of understanding God as Abba Father (and some good clarifications about where the Abba comes in, even when it's not actually in the Greek), but I'm going to have to share them tomorrow ... it's time for bed here after a busy day.
This is a very rich time for The Abbess. I'll just quickly share my The Shack/Jesus Creed inspired version of The Lord's Prayer ... and unpack it in tomorrow's post.
Leaning on Papa.
Lots of very good thoughts to share about the importance of understanding God as Abba Father (and some good clarifications about where the Abba comes in, even when it's not actually in the Greek), but I'm going to have to share them tomorrow ... it's time for bed here after a busy day.
This is a very rich time for The Abbess. I'll just quickly share my The Shack/Jesus Creed inspired version of The Lord's Prayer ... and unpack it in tomorrow's post.
Heavenly Papa, we set your name apart for greatest honor.
Honoring your name means
we yearn to cooperate with you in all things.
We trust you to meet our true needs,
knowing we are your provision for each other.
We gladly forgive all, because you, in Jesus,
have already forgiven all --
in order to restore our broken-down relationships.
Keep us from wandering from your path
by protecting us from the lies of the Enemy.
Papa, I know everything is rightfully yours:
Kingdom, Power, Glory.
Always was, is now, ever will be.
Amen
Friday, February 8, 2008
Abi's Lent: Day Three
One of the things about the growing length and depth of my purple life is that I have come to depend upon God to help me do whatever it is that I am to accomplish. I am less and less inclined to make plans beyond the essentials of the day. I find that as I lean upon him more and more, I manage to find just the right things at just the right times. I don't think it is a coincidence ... I think it is an incredible mercy, because I am just, well, broken.
And so I come to chapter two in The Jesus Creed -- where Scot talks about how Jesus gives us an amazing gift in The Lord's Prayer. There could have been no better preparation for me for this chapter than reading The Shack. None.
I was struck by the raw challenge of forgiveness...and you will have to read The Shack to understand how hard I was struck. I don't have a big problem with forgiveness ... just the same little problem of constantly needing to forgive and be forgiven. Is this another of those things that we have become numb to because we talk so much about it but rarely see it done well?
The other thing that struck me -- and chapter three talks about it, so I'll save some for then -- was referring to God as Abba. (The Greek word in The Lord's Prayer is not Abba, but I'll see what Scot has to say about that tomorrow.) By the time I finished reading The Shack, I was almost comfortable calling God Papa ... almost.
Why are we so stuck with ideas of God as harsh, stern, reprimanding disciplinarian? Why does is seem to so many that Our Father cannot be our Papa without being considered too ...uh... familiar or disrespectful?
It seems to me that this is what keeps us from embracing the intimacy that Jesus intends us to move toward when he uses Abba. Our Abba intimately knows us, and yearns for us to know him as well. He wants us to trust that we are never alone. NEVER. That Father-Son-Spirit are always with us ... looking for opportunities to bring us into their conversation -- the perichoretic dance of loving service and humble submission and unity of heart and purpose.
Love of God by following Jesus and loving others ... opens us to loving as Jesus loves and knowing God as Jesus knows God. And that means that we must embrace God as our Papa. And that we must see the names by which we know him as hallowed. We may not pick and choose -- not if we are following Jesus.
I'm following Jesus -- and that means we're going with Papa.
And so I come to chapter two in The Jesus Creed -- where Scot talks about how Jesus gives us an amazing gift in The Lord's Prayer. There could have been no better preparation for me for this chapter than reading The Shack. None.
I was struck by the raw challenge of forgiveness...and you will have to read The Shack to understand how hard I was struck. I don't have a big problem with forgiveness ... just the same little problem of constantly needing to forgive and be forgiven. Is this another of those things that we have become numb to because we talk so much about it but rarely see it done well?
The other thing that struck me -- and chapter three talks about it, so I'll save some for then -- was referring to God as Abba. (The Greek word in The Lord's Prayer is not Abba, but I'll see what Scot has to say about that tomorrow.) By the time I finished reading The Shack, I was almost comfortable calling God Papa ... almost.
Why are we so stuck with ideas of God as harsh, stern, reprimanding disciplinarian? Why does is seem to so many that Our Father cannot be our Papa without being considered too ...uh... familiar or disrespectful?
It seems to me that this is what keeps us from embracing the intimacy that Jesus intends us to move toward when he uses Abba. Our Abba intimately knows us, and yearns for us to know him as well. He wants us to trust that we are never alone. NEVER. That Father-Son-Spirit are always with us ... looking for opportunities to bring us into their conversation -- the perichoretic dance of loving service and humble submission and unity of heart and purpose.
Love of God by following Jesus and loving others ... opens us to loving as Jesus loves and knowing God as Jesus knows God. And that means that we must embrace God as our Papa. And that we must see the names by which we know him as hallowed. We may not pick and choose -- not if we are following Jesus.
I'm following Jesus -- and that means we're going with Papa.
Abi's Book Recommendation: The Shack
I have been hearing about The Shack since last September (here and here), but the wait for ordering was six weeks and I decided to hold off. Well, my dear friend Annette loaned me her copy...and I read most of it yesterday, finishing it this morning.
Friends, The Abbess resonated with this book so deeply. I laughed and cried more deeply than I can remember--and those of you who know me IRL (in real life) know that I do a lot of laughing and crying!
My mind has been swimming--wondering what to say, what not to say....
This is THE novel of the Purple Martyrdom. Period. Each and every human being who has been wounded, broken, depressed, rejected, grieved ... have I missed anyone? ... who has felt guilty, needed forgiveness, been angry, harbored grudges, longed for justice to be meted out ...got everyone yet?... how about those who are lonely, who feel unloved or unworthy, who cannot forgive someone, who feel lost, who are defined by their pain and suffering. Well, I think you get the idea that everyone could benefit from reading this book. But it will cost you.
Lent is a time when we contemplate the enormity of what Jesus was willing to do to bring us home -- home to the Eternal Community he wants us to share with him and the Father and the Holy Spirit. This little book brings a much-needed focus to that amazingly perichoretic (I will get around to posting about this -- and this book is a much needed push) relationship -- I urge you to read this book in these days before we celebrate Easter. I think it will change your perspective profoundly.
Take a look at The Shack and decide for yourself. But don't try to circumvent experiencing it by reading what others have to say about it. Restrain your curiosity and wait until you can read it for yourself. You can order it from the official website or from Amazon. This is one book I'm going to have to have more than one copy of in my library -- one for me to keep and makes notes in and some to loan or give to others.
...but I will certainly be pondering this very special twist to my 40 Days Living The Jesus Creed journey.
Go with God.
Friends, The Abbess resonated with this book so deeply. I laughed and cried more deeply than I can remember--and those of you who know me IRL (in real life) know that I do a lot of laughing and crying!
My mind has been swimming--wondering what to say, what not to say....
This is THE novel of the Purple Martyrdom. Period. Each and every human being who has been wounded, broken, depressed, rejected, grieved ... have I missed anyone? ... who has felt guilty, needed forgiveness, been angry, harbored grudges, longed for justice to be meted out ...got everyone yet?... how about those who are lonely, who feel unloved or unworthy, who cannot forgive someone, who feel lost, who are defined by their pain and suffering. Well, I think you get the idea that everyone could benefit from reading this book. But it will cost you.
Lent is a time when we contemplate the enormity of what Jesus was willing to do to bring us home -- home to the Eternal Community he wants us to share with him and the Father and the Holy Spirit. This little book brings a much-needed focus to that amazingly perichoretic (I will get around to posting about this -- and this book is a much needed push) relationship -- I urge you to read this book in these days before we celebrate Easter. I think it will change your perspective profoundly.
Take a look at The Shack and decide for yourself. But don't try to circumvent experiencing it by reading what others have to say about it. Restrain your curiosity and wait until you can read it for yourself. You can order it from the official website or from Amazon. This is one book I'm going to have to have more than one copy of in my library -- one for me to keep and makes notes in and some to loan or give to others.
...but I will certainly be pondering this very special twist to my 40 Days Living The Jesus Creed journey.
Go with God.
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