How Can I Be a Servant When I Want to be Great?

There is something I constantly struggle with - its about not being great, but wanting to be great - but then, as some friends remind me, "you got to write to get your name out there if you are ever going to be noticed." I don't write, so I don't get noticed. If I don't get noticed, hey I can't become great.

Once I had a conversation with Bob Webber about an idea I had when we were together at Northern Seminary. He encouraged me that the idea I had would be a great topic for a book. I responded saying, "That's the difference between you and me - you think in terms of books, I think in terms of paragraphs."

Well so maybe the real issue is that I am not disciplined enough to become great. There is probably great truth in that.

I was reminded again of this struggle within me again as I read through the Scripture, meditations and questions on the daily prayer site run by a group of Irish Jesuits aka sacred space for May 20th. The focus was on the passage from Mark 9 in which Jesus' disciples were jockeying for recognition and greatness.

What jumped out at me was: "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." I realize that as long as I focus on being great I will be neither great nor a servant - I miss it all. But then it is not about being either - as if there were a number of steps to becoming a servant. Rather I am discovering, each time I wrestle with this, that it is an attitude, involving contentment, being open to the people God brings into my life and the ones God leads me to, an attitude of not worrying about whether I will ever be great, but just being available for what God has in mind for me and to be open to that.

Being a servant requires a lot of trust, faith, and just a sensitivity to seeing how the Spirit of God is moving and touching the lives of those God connects me with. It is again coming to realize, its not about me (that's so hard to realize), its about what God is up to in the world.

And so I am trying to learn to pray again to be open to what God is doing, where God is leading, and to live in the moments God opens up - so that I can somehow be a servant in those contexts. Someday I'll get to the place where I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how I'm coming across, or what others think about me in the midst of my being available to them.

Hopefully someday I get into the rhythm of being a servant with no aspirations for anything else.

Roland

Conversation at Panera About Jesus

I can't believe its a whole month since I last blogged on this site.

I had a conversation this morning with a friend at Panera Bread about Jesus. We got talking about a comment a rabbi had made that Jesus came for the Gentiles, but that God's people were still waiting for the Messiah.

What struck me as interesting in such a comment is that historically Jesus was Jewish and his mission was to the House of Israel (the mission to the Gentiles did not begin until about 20 years after Jesus ministry, death and resurrection).

However, the most enlivening part of our conversation was in discussing whether Jesus was just for Christians, or whether Jesus was for all humanity. Though numerous religions give some kind of assent to Jesus as a prophet, the scriptures teach that God came to dwell amongst humanity and the way God did that was in the person of Jesus, son of Joseph, the Christ.

If this is indeed true, as I believe it is, then Jesus came not only for Christians, but Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, Atheists, Animists, etc. Jesus came for all people in order to bring all humanity into a relationship with God who created us.

So what do we do with this understanding? One is that we need to begin to see Jesus not just through western Christian eyes, but also through middle eastern Jewish eyes, middle eastern Islamic eyes, eastern Buddhist eyes, Indian Hindu eyes, African eyes, Asian eyes, etc. God is for all humanity. Jesus is God for all humanity.

In this way Jesus cannot be seen just as another religious figure, competing for religious significance. Jesus (God incarnate as a human being) is God who has come to be with us to draw us all back into relationship with God who created us all.

The Story we have in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is the Story of God engaging humanity through one people and then through a community not limited to one people but open to all ethnicities, all genders, all statuses, all humanity.

How are we then to live in the world to reveal this Jesus in the midst of a broken world?

Roland

The Peace that Brings Conflict

With all the warring going on in the world -- Iraq, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, in our neighborhoods, I cannot help but wonder when enough is enough - when will we stop killing and hurting each other.

Jesus in John's Gospel says, "Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." But what kind of peace is this? This is what we talked about last night when we met at Panera Bread in Round Lake Beach at sacred space.

As our conversation unfolded we quickly realized that Jesus' peace is contrary to the world's concept of peace -- in fact many war against Jesus concept of peace. Much of what we think about politically as peace has more to do with truce keeping or truce making. But Jesus did not call us to be truce makers but peacemakers. We concluded that there is a difference.

The peace of Christ often stands in opposition to the "ways of peace" in our world today. We seek peace or truce in the context of power - truce usually involves one power submitting to another in order for "peace" to exist. The UN peacekeeping forces are meant to keep the balance of power in a region so that war does not erupt out of the fragile peace.

However, Jesus' peace stands in such contrast with the ways of the world, that often we war against the peace of Christ when it comes into our midst, rather than embracing it - because embracing Christ's peace most often requires of us "to turn the other cheek," "to go a second mile with one who exerts power over us," "to love our enemies." We are called to embrace this way of peace, and usually such embracing seems to result in suffering rather than victory. It seemed that Christ was defeated when he embraced peace by being crucified on the cross for the sake of humanity, but it was only through his death and in our identifying with his death, that we share in the victory of life that is whole, life that is peace.

When the peace of Christ confronts us and asks the impossible of us in our relationships with those who war against us, too often we war against the way of Christ and so contribute to the never-ending struggle of our warring against another. But if we surrender to Christ and the way of Christ, not reluctantly, but embracing such a surrender, we become peacemakers of a new way of being in the world that unmasks the powers, triumphs over the oppressors not necessarily by bringing them into submission, but by giving witness to what it means to be a people of peace in the world. We may die in living this peace, but it is a peace that will overcome the warring of the world.

In this way Christ's peace is in conflict with the ways of the world -- and the longer we refuse to embrace it, the more we will war against it. Yet God is calling together a community of people in the world who will witness to by living out the way of Christ's peace in the world. What of ourselves are we willing to sacrifice, to surrender to be bringers of such a peace - reputation, our esteem, our positions, what others think of us?

As we enter the New Year, may we embrace the peace of Christ in the way of Christ Jesus.

Roland

Re-imagining Becoming Like a Child

Wednesday mornings I hang out at Panera Bread on Rollins in Round Lake Beach. Usually there are two or more of us and we engage in some kind of dialogue engaging God's Story. Sometimes though I have time to read and reflect. Today was one of those days - the day after Christmas.

One of the books I am reading is Jesus in the Margins and I read through the chapter on "Becoming the Child."

The author reminded me that "Jesus invites us to re-imagine life as a child" - particularly as "a child of God" (p. 120). He sets this in the context of Jesus asking his disciples the question in Matthew's Gospel, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" As adults too often we respond to such a question by focusing on power, prestige, position, reputation, etc. -- seeking somehow to attain our greatness.

Jesus, however, presented a different perspective -- "Unless you become like a child, you will never be great in the kingdom of God."

I think I am learning this lesson in my life, over the past couple of years, though I still have a way to go. We have taken on so many of the trappings of "being adult," "being mature," which perhaps is another way to say "we've got life under control, our control, my control" that we have forgotten how to really see what life is about.

To become like a child, is not to become less mature, but it means to take on certain characteristics which are lost when we make life about ourselves. Being like a child, which enables us to live life in the way of Jesus is (1) to have eyes to see the wonder in life, to take the time to be open to the amazing things in life -- as adults we too often move so fast that we miss the wonder. (2) to have the freedom to play -- too often in trying to control our lives, life becomes about toil and making the grade. When we learn to trust God to lead us in life, resting in the Spirit of God to unfold life before me, we can develop a spirit that is free to engage more in play. (3) to be free to create -- this connects with wonder and play. Too often as an adult I make things to fit in with the goals and needs of others. However, if I can catch a glimpse of what God is about in the world and be a part of that, I am free to be creative in ways that shares in God's continuing activity of creation -- be it in people's lives, in work, etc. (4) discover what it is to live life unashamed. We learn shame early, we learn early what is not quite right about us, how we don't fit in, we learn early to be embarrassed by ourselves. But to learn to trust in God, to share in the life of God is to rediscover what it is to be spiritually unashamed -- which carries over into bringing healing into our lives regarding how we see ourselves as being free to live, as we are, in ways which God leads us. We do not need to live by the expectations of others. (5) Children walk in innocence and trust. To be adult is to be aware. It is not naive to live life that does not cater to "playing the game," being political astute so that you can get ahead, "doing the necessary thing, rather than the right thing." Instead, living a life that fosters the ethic of Jesus, trusts the Spirit of God to guide us through life -- enables us to be people, adults, who live by a different rhythm in this world - we present an alternative reality that builds others up, rather than uses people for our own gain.

I guess, as I reflect on Christ becoming a human being through birth as a child, it is a reminder that Jesus began life in this way so that we might not become calloused and closed-hearted, but open to the wonder of God in the world. Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear where God is in the world?

Roland

Where Is Sacred Space to Be Found?

I have been reading through both of these books which present stories about finding God in the most unlikeliest places. Jesus in the Margins expresses that the place where God hangs out the clearest is in the margins of life, and Theirs is the Kingdom reveals how Christ is evident in the most unassuming places in urban America.

This leads me to ask the question: Where can we find sacred space? If by sacred space, we mean where God is present, then it is become more clear to me everyday that God is in places where we least expect God to be. When Jesus lived in Palestine almost 2000 years ago, he hung out with tax collectors, sick people, prostitutes -- people who did not make the "most likely to do anything" list. The religious leaders of the day saw God only in the special places, the most "holy" places, but Jesus reveals that sacred space is wherever God is, wherever God shows up. If we get any idea where God does show up from Jesus' ministry, we begin to see that sacred space is among the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the destitute, the alienated.

Therefore, in reflecting on how we are to be church in Lake County, perhaps we need to reflect on where God is making space sacred here in Lake County -- because that is where God connects with us.

sacred space, the gathering that meets at Panera Bread on Rollins in Round Lake Beach, beginning again on Sunday December 2nd from 6pm - 8pm, seeks to explore how we can be church in Lake County by helping one another have eyes to see where God is hanging out -- and hopefully also to have ears to hear what God is saying.

August Rush, Hearing Music - Hearing Life

My family and I caught a movie on Thanksgiving Day. August Rush is a great metaphor for hearing the music, hearing the life that is all around us and our lives being the instruments through which that music, through which life, is played.

When I think about the way we approach God and life, the way we try to do good for others through ministry, I think we miss a lot -- we don't have the ears to hear the music and rhythms of life that are all around us.

Instead, what we too often do in life and in ministry is that we respond to the discord, the disharmony, rather than the rhythms of the music of life, the rhythms of the music of the Spirit of God. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus teaches his followers to "seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness." What does this mean? I believe it means to seek first the rhythms of God's Story, God's Vision, the music of life that God is playing everyday as God is active in the world through God's Spirit.

Do we hear it? Do we hear the music the Spirit is playing?

In ministry, in trying to be there to help other people, too often we listen to the discord, the pain in their lives and try to help them by trying to do something with that dissonance. But what is this dissonance? If it is an incapability of hearing and responding to the music of life, then do we help them by "making songs" out of these discordant notes. Or is ministry helping others hear the music, catch the rhythms that bring life? Is ministry not trying to do something with the pain in our lives, but helping others hear the music that can heal the pain?

Are we not called to hear the music of the Spirit in the world? Do we help others, by hearing the rhythm, the music of life, the rhythm of what God is doing in the world -- and begin to play this music, the music of life? This music -- which we ourselves begin to hear with our ears, our souls, our lives -- which we then begin to play (do ministry), does it help people hear, notice the rhythm of life, of God's presence all around them. As those we seek to help begin to hear the rhythm of life that God is "playing" they are given the opportunity to begin to re-tune their lives in harmony with a different rhythm -- a rhythm that is filled with the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God.

So ministry is not listening to "needs" and responding to those needs, but listening to the rhythm of God in life, learning to play that music. As a result by focusing on this music, we and others are reshaped, re-tuned in ways that enable our lives to play the music of life in new, fresh ways. If you take a look at Jesus' ministry on earth, this is what he did. He did not play his own music, nor try to respond to the disharmony of the pain around him. No, and he states this on numerous occasions -- "I do what I see my Father doing and I say what I hear my Father saying." Jesus' ministry brought life to others as he helped them hear and respond to the music of life that comes out of heart and rhythm of God's love for humanity and what God is doing in the world to draw humanity into a living relationship with himself.

Repentance, then, is an action where we yield ourselves to the music of God, the rhythm of God, the Story and Vision of God in our lives. It is an embracing of life. It is opening up our ears, our souls, our lives to hear the music that God is playing to bring joy and wholeness to us and to those with whom we share our lives.

Missional Discipleship

I am an educator and so I have an affinity for the process of discipleship in helping followers of Christ grow in the way of Christ in their lives.

Bosch in Transforming Mission has an excellent chapter on "Matthew: Mission as Disciple-Making." In his Gospel, Matthew expresses an understanding of discipleship that is deeply missional. Bosch relates that the command to "make disciples" in Matthew 28:19 is a call for Jesus' followers "to make others into what they themselves are: disciples" (p. 74). He further adds that for Matthew "the first disciples are prototypes for the church" (p. 74).

This kind of discipleship is not one that solely focuses on one's own life, but our lives as followers of Christ are lived for the other. Too often the practices of discipleship in the life of the church focus on inward growth and development. Though such development is important, the inner growth is for the sake of outward witness, outward action, orthopraxis if you will, in order to represent a different way of being human in the world.

Therefore, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is "to practice God's call of justice for the poor" (p. 81), to not only seek God's righteousness, but to seek God's justice for all humanity. We experience God's justice in our own lives and God justifies us and brings us into a relationship with him. In response we act in justice towards others by carrying out the will of God -- here on earth, just as it is in heaven (p. 72).

Indeed discipleship in inherently missional because "to become a disciple means a decisive and irrevocable turning to both God and neighbor. What follows from there is a journey which, in fact, never ends in this life, a journey of continually discovering new dimensions of loving God and neighbor, as 'the reign of God and his justice' (Mt 6:33) are increasingly revealed in the life of the disciple" (p. 82).

If discipleship focuses merely on the inward, or on something else, then it is not a following after Jesus, it is not living a life in the way of Jesus, and it is not a participating with God in God's redemptive mission.