Signs, Wonders, and the Supernatural

English: Inside Hillsong Church, Sydney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the supernatural realm is where the real action is in these days. As a race, especially those of us in the West, we have become so sophisticated that we discount the supernatural without adequate investigation and, by doing so, fall into the enemy’s trap. We must pay closer attention to the supernatural realm because we are involved in a supernatural battle, whether or not we understand it or accept it.

It is interesting to note that the fastest growing churches in the world are those of the Charismatic/Pentecostal traditions. This is especially true in Asia and Africa, but really, it is a phenomenon that can be seen all over the world. By the same token, it is those denominations that adhere most closely with the use of reason, logic, science, and the legacy of the Enlightenment that are withering on the vine. This is not how I would have predicted things to have worked out and it surely is not how I would have wished it would have worked out. Quite frankly, some of the craziness and downright foolishness seen in the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches is an abomination in my sight. And I suspect that much of the really fringe elements of these movements will disappear as time progresses.

However, I think the core elements of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement will continue to prosper because God says he must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. And certainly, now more than ever, the supernatural side of things must be taken into account. I am uncertain as to exactly how this will manifest itself here in the West, however. One thing is certain, the church in the West will need more manifestations of God’s power in these rapidly changing times. Yet this revealing of God’s strength must be presented in a manner that is less chaotic and “sensational” than in the past. The days of flopping about, running around the sanctuary, barking like dogs and “holy drooling” have passed. It is a time for the world to see God’s power and presence in all its glory, not in patently bizarre human translations that greatly miss the mark.

As the future unfolds, one of the most needed of the spiritual gifts will be that of discernment. Pastors, teachers, elders, and others in positions of spiritual authority will need to be deeply educated in the criteria of discernment, or at least in recognizing those who have this gift, even in its embryonic forms. Anytime there is a period of increased Holy Spirit activity, and this is without a doubt one of those times, the potential for the Great Deceiver to lead many astray is great. We live in an age that is ripe for deception. Trained, gifted discerners are in critical need. James Goll speaks directly to this issue:

Lack of discernment and an unscriptural emphasis on experience beyond the confines of Scripture are major stumbling blocks for the majority of Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians who are open to the supernatural and revelatory realms of God…..When it comes to gifts of miraculous powers and prophecy, we need mature elders in every church who are equipped with the gift of discernment to watch over the flock. We also need apostolic voices who will release guidelines for discernment in the years to come, as the sense of God’s Presence and power increases throughout the world – growing alongside the “tares” of this world, evidenced in soulishly and demonically induced counterfeit expressions of power. Right now, we are sadly equipped with too few apostolic leaders who are respected enough to speak the truth in love about these issues of discernment and correction. And we have too few humble church leaders who are open to correction from apostolic leaders, regardless of their denominational preferences, networks, or alliances.

Many within the Mainline denominations and Evangelical churches have such a historically “negative charge” with the Charismatic movement that they suspect anything of Spirit-filled nature as being either doctrinally lacking or worse, a product of Satan. This mind-set is not entirely their fault as there has been such excess and, yes, plain wanton foolishness in more than a few Charismatic and Pentecostal circles. Yet at the same time, it is not wise to completely slam the door shut.

At one end of the spectrum you have those sincere followers of the Master who are so turned off by what they see as bizarre extremism that they close their minds to all Charismatic experience. In a sense, these folks use too much discernment in the sense that anything even remotely resembling “Spirit-filled” experience is discounted out of hand. At the other end of the spectrum you have the fringe elements of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity that fall into all sorts of error, both doctrinal and experiential, and wind up engaging in practices that seem too strange to be true. At this extreme, too little discernment is practiced and, in some cases, none at all.

The contemporary church has a critical need for a more balanced approach to and criteria for accurate discernment of supernatural phenomena, grounded in Scripture but not so tightly bound as to handcuff the Spirit. The real challenge for the church at this point is the development of this much-needed criteria and, after that, widespread training in its fundamental applications. Understandably, this development remains a work in progress.

© L.D. Turner 2012/ All Rights Reserved

Related articles

• The Charismatic and New Age Movement are Intertwined… (endtimeebooklibrary.com)
• Tongues Throughout Church History (raymondjclements.wordpress.com)
• Fire From Heaven (mgriffinrobert.com)
• Charismatic and Pentecostal Movements are Unbiblical (zionistoutrage.com)

On Comfort Zones and Thinking Out of the Box (Part Two)

The Thinking Man sculpture at Musée Rodin in Paris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

(continued from Part One)

God did not create you to rest on your laurels. Instead, he hardwired you to keep on moving – keep on growing. So beware of settling in for too long. “But wait a minute,” you might be saying. “We all need to rest. All work and no play makes for a dull boy.” Yes, that’s true. We do, indeed, need to take time off from time to time in order to rest, recuperate, and recharge our spiritual batteries. However, these periods of recuperation were never meant to be a career. No, we have to keep on moving.

Although our comfort zones serve a useful purpose by giving us at least some areas of life that are predictable, nurturing, familiar, and, to some extent, under our direct control, these patterns of habitual behavior, feelings, and thinking can also be a prison. What’s even more baffling about our prisons of comfort, they are all too obvious to those who know us and completely invisible to ourselves. Often, when a friend loves us enough to confront us on our inability to get outside our comfort zones, our response goes something like this:

“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. No way am I like that.”

The idea here is clearly obvious, our comfort zones not only imprison us; they also create “blind spots.” A blind spot is simply an aspect of our thinking, feeling, behaving, and/or relating that we don’t see. It is also important that we recognize that many of our blind spots related to our zones of comfort are associated with our thinking. Habitual, familiar, and especially treasured ways of thinking are among the most tightly held comfort zones that we have. Unfortunately, they are also some of the most debilitating.

We create our comfort zones and rigidly live within their confines. Any attempt to dislodge us from the walls of this comfort zone meets with great resistance. I know in my own life, the pattern depicted in this epic poem plays out in pretty much the same way. I first begin to feel a bit anxious. After this, a voice within me tells me that if I am to reach my goals I have to get back into the desert, even if it is unpleasant.

Sometimes, I heed the voice and get moving. At other times, I require a divine nudge to get me moving.

So, what is the answer to the dilemma of imprisoning thinking and resistance to out of the box thinking? What can, more than anything else, get us off the dime and into action? What kind of solution, short of a sandstorm of divine origin, can get us back into the game of life?

I am of the belief that the answer(s) to these questions involve a degree of personal specificity. In other words, these answers are individual. What gets one person moving might make another person dig in more deeply. What works for the goose may not work for the gander. With those ideas in mind, however, I believe that something else must take place before we can find the answer that applies to us. What each of us has to do is conduct:

A fearless, thorough, honest, and relentless search for truth.

 

Within the parameters of this search, we must thoroughly evaluate the answers we arrive at. On a personal level, I admit that such a search can be both intensive and confusing. Still, if we fail to do this, we end up pursuing one of two potential courses of action, neither of which are productive or personally satisfying. Unless we conduct our personal evaluation of the potential answers, we run the risk of:

Letting someone else decide what is true for us or we abandon the process of seeking answers entirely.

 

Unfortunately, each week church pews are packed with good, decent folks who have opted for either of these empty options. Perhaps this reality again points to the subtle but no less dangerous aspect of the heresy of doctrine. In Christianity, doctrine is to be accepted on faith and not questioned. It is to be swallowed whole, and never masticated. It is easy to see how this sort of thing can lead to a bad case of metaphysical indigestion. There is a solution, but it is going to require a good bit of work on your part.

At various places in my writings, I have mentioned the importance of clarifying one’s world view. The importance of understanding your world view cannot be overstated. By “understanding your world view” I mean basically two things: having a vital and practical insight into the role your world view has in your life; and second, getting down to the brass tacks of defining your world view.

Both of these aspects of your world view are equally important and cannot be ignored. The fact is, your world view is the matrix through which you perceive and explain the world you live in. Additionally, your world view informs your decision making process. Ideally, we make choices and decisions that are in harmony with our internalized values and those values generally flow from our world view, whether we know it or not.

With those things said, I have also stressed the importance of setting aside time on a regular basis in order to check up on your world view. Chances are, over the course of time our perspective might have changed on certain things. We need to take a look at those changes and see how they fit in with the overall schema through which we interpret our world.

I have come to the conclusion that few endeavors in the life of a Christian are as important as the process of “worldview development.” The fact is, many Christians have never given thought to the significance of one’s worldview and, of the few that have taken up the subject, most quickly put it aside in favor of more tangible and practical pursuits.

The reality is, however, there a few items in the life of a Christian that are more tangible and practical than the development and implementation of a biblical worldview. Granted, putting together a workable worldview involves dealing with intellectual abstractions, but even these cognitive pursuits have their base in every day living. For it is our worldview that gives our lives meaning, purpose, and direction. Further, it is our worldview that forms the basis for our decision making process. Few things are more “down to earth” than these issues.

The fact is, we all have a worldview whether we realize it or not. And it is therein the problem arises. Chances are, if we are unaware of the dominant worldview we operate from, then it is a good bet that we are also unaware of how our worldview was formed. Once you realize how vitally important a worldview is, hopefully you will come to see that you can no longer leave this process to chance or random development.

Christian researcher George Barna makes the following observations regarding worldviews:

*Everyone has a worldview. Relatively few have a coherent worldview or are able to articulate it clearly.

 

*Most people don’t consider their worldview to be a central, defining element of their life, although it is.

 

*People spend surprisingly little time intentionally considering and developing their worldview. More often than not, their worldview development process is one of unconscious evolution and acceptance. They allow it to evolve and sum it up this way: “Whatever.”

To be continued…..

(c) L.D. Turner 2008/2012/ All Rights Reserved

God as Spirit and Transformative Presence

Cover via Amazon

Mick Turner

In his various writings, Marcus Borg has consistently espoused the notion that the church’s tendency to view God through the lens of “Supernatural Theism” has caused many problems and is also one of the chief culprits behind the mass exodus from the church today. As an alternative, Borg puts forth the notions of “panentheism” and also of “viewing God as Spirit.” Panentheism, which views all things as being “within God” is a logical and valuable model. Here, however, I want to reflect a bit on several implications inherent in the Spirit model. Borg covers this theme in considerable detail in his book, The God We Never Knew.

Borg begins by stating that the Spirit model leads to an image of the Christian life that stresses three vital things: relationship, intimacy and belonging.

In addition, Borg states:

As a root metaphor for the sacred, Spirit images God as a nonmaterial reality pervading the universe as well as being more than the universe. As used in the Bible…..its meaning is broader than the specific Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit,” which sees it as one aspect of God. But in the Bible, Spirit is used comprehensively to refer to God’s presence in creation, in the history of Israel, and in the life of Jesus and the early church. ……Some of its resonances of meaning are suggested by the Hebrew word for Spirit. “Ruach” also minds wind and breath. The associations of both are suggestive. Both are invisible yet manifestly real. We cannot see the wind, though its presence and effects are felt; it moves without being seen. When it blows, it is all around us. Breath is like wind inside the body. For the ancient Hebrews (as for us), it was associated with life. Metaphorically, God as Spirit is both wind and breath, a non material reality outside of us and within us. Our breath is God breathing us, and God is as near to us as our own breath. Speaking o f God as Spirit, as both wind and breath, evokes both transcendence and nearness.

Borg goes on to point out how the Spirit model of God allows for the inclusion of feminine images of God, specifically images of God as:

Wisdom

Lover

Journey Companion

It is as a Journey Companion – or Good Shepherd – that I think Christ has the most direct impact and relevance for Christians today. Jesus described himself as the Good Shepherd. Borg elaborates on this role of Jesus:

 Rather than a single image, this is a category of images pointing to God as a companion who travels with us. It includes the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day that led the Israelites through the wilderness, as well as the presence of God that tented among them in a mobile home (the tabernacle). God as shepherd is another such image, but with the added dimension of nourishment and protection. The shepherd not only travels with the sheep but leads them to water and food, finds shelter, protects them, and seeks them when they go astray. In the New Testament, journey companion imagery is associated especially with Jesus. A disciple is one who journeys with Jesus (who also provides bread for the journey, indeed, “companion” literally means somebody with whom one breaks bread). In the Emmaus Road story, the risen Christ journeys with his disciples, even though they do not recognize him. And in John’s gospel, the image of God as shepherd is applied to Jesus: the Johannine Jesus is “the good shepherd.

I especially feel a vital connection with Jesus as “journey companion” when I reflect on the realties inherent in Paul’s brief statement in Ephesians 4:10. This is where Paul describes Jesus as the “one who ascended higher than the highest heaven so that he might fill all things with himself.” The implications of this one small comment are literally staggering. With the Ascension of Jesus, all things underwent a tremendous change – all things became a home for the Risen Lord.

Once we understand and accept this reality – the infusion of Christ into all things – our priority should be to deepen our conscious contact with the Indwelling Light. In my mind, I believe the best way to facilitate this deepening is through the practice of the classic spiritual disciplines. Borg speaks of these practices, what he calls “sacred practices,” which are means by which the sacred is mediated with daily living. With the infusion of Christ into all things, almost all activities have the potential to be considered “sacred acts” if performed with the proper reverence and mindfulness.

Returning to the theme of what I call “divine infusion,” as described in Ephesians 4:10, the implications of this act are staggering. In my own spiritual journey, when I first discovered this sublime biblical truth it was as if a flood gate of spiritual understanding had been opened. I could fill pages with the new insights brought about by this one small, often overlooked verse. Space does not allow for that, but let me explore just one minor implication of this profound biblical reality.

We know from Old Testament accounts that God accompanied the Israelites on their journey in the Wilderness as both the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. As mentioned in the above quotation from Borg, we also are reminded that the Great I Am then took up temporary residence in the Tabernacle. Eventually requiring a more permanent home in the Promised Land, the Lord had Solomon construct the first Temple in Jerusalem and, deep within the Temple in what was called the Holy of Holies, God made his earthly home. And it was in this innermost sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem that the Father resided when John the Baptist and Jesus appeared on the scene.

With the Resurrection and subsequent Ascension of Christ, along with the advent of the Holy Spirit, a most remarkable thing occurred. The Great I Am took up residence within every person. And if that was not miracle enough, with the “infusion” the Lord “filled all things with himself” (Eph. 4:10).

We can see in this pattern a sort of “progressive intimacy” orchestrated by God, culminating in the essence of Christ permeating all things, great and small. It is this all-encompassing Christ filling and animating all things that fits so well the “God as Spirit” model as described by Marcus Borg. This image of God as Spirit is, at the same time, highly personal and transpersonal. As an all-pervading Spirit resident in all of creation and especially in the hearts of his followers, Christ engages in a depth of intimacy that was not possible prior to his ascension and infusion. This divine indwelling fosters a deeply intimate and personal relationship between the individual and the animating Spirit in which he or she “lives, moves, and has their being.” At the same time, the all-pervasive Spirit is transpersonal, going beyond the individual and, by the very nature of His being, unites all creation in a interdependent and interrelated whole.

In Borg’s view, this expansive view of God as Spirit, as opposed to “Divine Monarch,” gives rise to a number of useful metaphors which makes the personal/transpersonal Spirit more accessible and pragmatic in daily life. Borg discusses several of these positive metaphors including God as: fire, light, breath, wisdom, mother and father, lover, and journey companion. I find all of these metaphors useful in terms of making the incomprehensible power, creativity, and intelligence of God more accessible.

All of these metaphors are carried over from the Old Testament into the New Testament. On a personal note, I have found the analogy of Christ as “journey companion” to be highly pertinent and impactful. We especially see this in the imagery of “Christ as Shepherd” in the 23^rd Psalm and in the gospels as well, especially the writings of John.  Personal experience has also shown me how each of these biblical metaphors can be beneficial in ways both practical and meaningful. Borg goes on to describe a trio of more obvious ways the metaphor of God as Spirit impacts our experience of God:

The biblical metaphors for the Spirit model affect our root image of God in three quite obvious ways. First, these metaphors emphasize the nearness of God rather than the distance implied by the monarchical model. They evoke closeness, relationship, and connection. God as Spirit is near, at hand; indeed, we live within Spirit. Nearness also involves concern: God as Spirit is compassionate. God is the womblike one who gave birth to us, who nurtures us, cares for us, yearns for us. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Second, both male and female metaphors (as well as some that are neither) are used, rather than exclusively male images of the monarchical model. God is like a woman giving birth, like a mother raising her children, like Sophia the wisdom woman; God is like an intimate father. Moreover, some images go equally well with either gender: God as lover, as companion or friend, even as shepherd. . . . . . . . . . .Third, rather than the essentially anthropomorphic image of God as king, lord and patriarchal father, the metaphors for God as Spirit include both non-anthropomorphic and anthropomorphic images. . . . . . . . . . .The presence of both is suggestive. . . . . . . .That is, they suggest that there is a personal dimension to the relationship to God. Yet non-anthropomorphic images suggest that God is not simply a person. Combining the two suggests that the relationship to God is personal, even as God is more than a person. The sacred is not simply a non-animate mystery but a presence.

Although it is hard to contain in the limited nature of words, it is this sense of God as Spirit in general and God as presence in particular that I have found most transformational. Christ, a unique, pre-existent being who, at the very same time, is an all-pervasive, deeply penetrating, and fully indwelling force, becomes a life-enhancing, life-changing force – an ever-present presence that is indeed an indispensable and welcomed companion for my journey.

© L.D. Turner 2012/ All Rights Reserved

The Unfolding of Sacred Potential: (Part Six – Revised and Expanded)

Mick Turner

Continued from Part Five…

Serving With Radical Compassion

 

When the Master walked this earth, he did so as the prototype of a person who consistently walks in spiritual excellence. Jesus was the optimal version of who and what he was and it is to that goal we all aspire. Granted, we cannot walk as God’s Son walked – scripture tells us Jesus was the only one. However, we can walk as the optimal version of who we are. And when we do that, my friend, we are walking in spiritual excellence.

 

Jesus gave himself completely to the Father so that he could do the Father’s will completely. And what was the ultimate will of the Father for his Son? The answer is simple: serve others!

 

Like Christ, we, too, are to give ourselves completely to God so that we can do His will completely. And what is God’s ultimate will for us? It should be obvious by now: we are to serve others.

 

Our service is the offspring of a heart of compassion, built upon our deep recognition of the pain and suffering inherent in this world and our interconnected unity with all people. You may not know it yet, but every man on this planet is your brother and every woman is your sister. You are made of the same combination of earth and divine breath. When one person suffers, at some level, we all suffer. This is not some New Age airy fairy fantasy; instead, it is scientific fact and theological truth.

 

From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before.

 

 Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

 

Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now.

 

Jesus Christ was not a man of compassion; he was a man of radical compassion. From his voluntary mission to this broken world, to his mysterious ascension back into the heavenly realm, there was no theme he stressed more in both word and deed. From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

 

Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

 

Five-hundred years before Jesus, another prophet of radical compassion graced our world. Gautama Buddha was an example of grace and perfect love incarnate. After finding his awakening under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha went about spreading the truth that he had discovered, a truth that when astutely applied to life, could liberate beings from endless rounds of suffering. Just as with Jesus who would come later, Buddha taught through sermons, informal talks, parables, and above all, his actions.

 

Radical compassion is compassion with legs; radical compassion is a verb. Just as the Bible tells us in the Letter of James that faith without works is dead, also, compassion without concomitant action is a lifeless phenomenon. Many sincere aspirants have the mistaken notion that the ultimate goal of the spiritual path is enlightenment. Although a sincere desire for motivation is one of our most treasured possessions, it is actually penultimate. The real aim of the spiritual journey is simply this – Sacred Service. All that we do is dedicated to the greatest good of all beings in all the worlds. Our gain is their gain, our loss is their loss, our advancement is their advancement, and it is to this sacred reality that we offer our benedictions at the end of our times of meditation and prayer.

 

In the Christian faith especially, personal enlightenment takes a back seat to serving others, spiritually and materially. Perhaps no where in the sacred writings of the world is this reality presented so directly as in the 13^th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

 

Imagine for a moment that you are one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and you, your band of rag tag friends, and the Master arrive at the Upper Room after a long, tedious, dusty day going about your business. You sit for a moment to catch your breath and unwind a few moments before you go wash up for the evening meal. You close your eyes for a few minutes, only to feel something or someone taking off your sandals. And to your utter disbelief, kneeling in front of you is the Master Jesus with a basin and a towel. Incredible….

 

The Master taught his disciples, and all of us who have read of this amazing episode, a clear and concise example of the essence of spirituality: selfless service with a heart of humility. If only more of us, especially those who claim to be followers of Jesus, would take this lesson to heart, our world would have much less pain.

 

The Kingdom of God is a divine realm of proactive compassion. This is the message that Jesus came to deliver and through his actions as well as his words, he delivered it consistently. In all that he did and he said, Jesus revealed to us the nature of God. This incarnational revelation was hinted at in the Master’s magnificent prayer in John 17. In the 21^st verse the Master says:

 

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

 

In the Bible’s most well known verse, John 3:16, it is stated that for God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. (NLT)

 

Now, to make this even clearer, let’s look at one more verse in John 17. In verse three John records:

 

And this is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. (NLT)

 

Putting all this together, Jesus gave us a powerful but very real theology in this prayer and his disciple, John, fully caught its significance by saying in 3:16 that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son to save it. On God’s part, this was a perfect example of “proactive compassion” or what we often call “grace.” Motivated by the purest form of love, God was moved to have compassion on we fallen creatures, even in our blind ignorance, and he literally gave that compassion flesh by sending us the Master Jesus.

 

In order for compassion to become more than just a nice idea or a sentimental feeling, it must flow out of the internalized wisdom of the ages, particularly as related to the reality of “interconnectivity.” The idea of interconnectivity, now confirmed by the field of quantum physics, has been around for many centuries and is at the core of interspiritual mysticism, that one aspect of world religion that seems to transcend culture, time, and especially theology. It is a mystical connectedness that promotes compassion and engaged action to make the world a better place for all who dwell here. In essence, it is a deep wisdom that gives flesh to grace. The great spiritual writer Kahil Gibran spoke of this interconnected reality when he said:

 

Your neighbor is your other self dwelling behind a wall. In understanding, all walls shall fall down. Who knows but that your neighbor is your better self wearing another body? See that you love him as you would yourself. He too is a manifestation of the Most High.

 

In India, for example, we have the story of Indra’s Net, which is strung throughout the universe with a precious jewel at the places where the cords of the net intersect. These jewels, in turn, reflect all of the other jewels. Similar to the modern discovery of the hologram, the image of Indra’s Net is filled with symbolic wisdom depicting the interconnectivity of all that is. Gary Zukav, in his groundbreaking book entitled, The Dancing Wu Li Masters tell us:

 

…the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics is that all things in our universe (including us) that appears to exist independently are actually parts of one all-encompassing organic pattern, and that no parts of that pattern are ever really separate from it or from each other.

 

In the Christian tradition, the writings of the great mystic teachers echo these same truths, often in symbolic and metaphorical ways. Julian of Norwich especially comes to mind as well as Hildegard of Bingen and Madame Guyon. The writings of Saint Theresa of Avila and the life and work of St. Francis also point to the interconnectivity of all life and the necessity of having a heart of radical compassion.

 

The great Romantic poets like William Wordsworth and Percy B. Shelley have voices that ring loudly with the sense of the interrelated aspects of the natural world and their American counterparts, the Transcendentalists, in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, also echo this theme of divine connectivity. And then there is the work of that master of the arcane, William Blake who spoke of the mystic’s ability:

 

To see a World in a grain of sand,

And Heaven in a wild flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

And Eternity in an hour.

 

The world that we interact with each day only appears to be solid. In point of fact, it is an intricate dance of sub-atomic waves and particles that obey none of the traditional or expected moves of predictable choreography. At its core level, our apparently solid, material world is less like classical music and more like jazz. Just when we think we have a handle on how things are, these very things change, morphing into something totally unexpected and often totally mysterious. Someone wise, I forget who, once said the life is not a riddle to be solved but a mystery to be lived. How true, and the sooner a person grasps this fundamental truth, the less frustration will appear in his or her life.

 

It is not my intention to travel too far down this road of quantum physics at this juncture. Suffice to say that contemporary science is increasingly coming to grasp the same fundamental truths that mystics and shamans have voiced for many centuries. Simply put: Everything is interrelated and interdependent and when one part is affected by something, at a very core level, every other part is also impacted.

 

In teaching about the interrelated aspect of the universe, I often use a simple analogy that explains these principles in a basic way. I use the example of raisin Jell-o. Imagine you have concocted a delicious tub or raisin Jell-o. Choose your favorite flavor if you like. The raisins are the important thing, here. Now, what happens when you take your index finger and thump one of the raisins? All the raisins move. Crude as this metaphor is, it makes the point that all the raisins in the bowl are connected and if one raisin moves, they all move. This is what the mystics, and the quantum physicists, are talking about when they speak of interconnectivity.

 

Christian writer and teacher Elizabeth Elliot, looking at God’s wondrous creation with both attentiveness and wisdom, grasps the profundity of this theme of interconnectedness and how it illustrates a foundation of commonality between humans and other species in God’s creation:

 

The closer one comes to the center of things, the better able he is to observe the connections. Everything created is connected, for everything is produced by the same mind, the same love, and is dependent on the same Creator. He who masterminded the universe, the Lord God Omnipotent, is the One who called the stars into being, commanded light, spoke the Word that brought about the existence of time and space and every form of matter: salt and stone, rose and redwood, feather and fur and fin and flesh. The titmouse and the turkey answer to Him. The sheep, the pig, and the finch are His, at His disposal, possessed and known by Him…We too are created, owned, possessed, known.

 

As the church moves into the second decade of the 21^st Century it has already become apparent that great changes are in the wind. I feel some of these changes are connected with an increased understanding of how God’s magnificent creation is put together in this incredible holographic manner in which each part contains the totality of the whole and every aspect of his world exists in an interdependent relationship with every other part. This is no romantic sentimentalism I am speaking of. Instead, it is a living, vibrant reality that, when one takes it to heart, changes everything. For the church, the message of the gospel become less of “let me show you the way,” and more of “What do you need?”

 

This move toward proactive compassion is a move of grace. Perhaps you are not accustomed to looking at grace that way, but grace is what we are dealing with. As stated earlier, a major part of Christ’s incarnation and our ongoing mission is to give flesh to grace. Caroline Myss makes this cogent observation in her book, Invisible Acts of Power:

 

What really happens inside you when you respond to someone in need? Why do some people jump out of their seats to help another person, while others look the other way? No doubt, some people have been taught to be kind and others may be naturally thoughtful. But I think something greater than compassion or good manners is at work, something beyond the motivation of the strong to help the weak or the wealthy to help the poor. I think it is the invisible power of grace, moving between the open hearts of give and receiver. The action itself, the lifting of a heavy piece of luggage or the drink of water offered to the thirsty man, may be small. But the energy that is channeled through that action is the high-voltage current of grace. It contains the power to renew someone’s faith in himself. It even has the power to save a life.

 

It should not be too difficult of an intellectual jump to see why this concept of interrelated reality should lead to a true and radical sense of compassion. What happens to me in the ultimate sense, happens to you and vice versa. When a child dies of hunger or disease in a poverty stricken nation, some part of each of us dies. We may not feel it, understand it, or even recognize it. Still, it is a fundamental spiritual and quantum truth. It is wise to remember the words of the 17^th Century poet John Donne as he spoke of the custom of the time which involved ringing the town’s bell whenever someone died:

 

Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind;

Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

Stained glass window of the sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in the former Mosque (Cathedral) of Cordoba, Spain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(c) L.D. Turner 2008/2012/All Rights Reserved

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Living as a New Creation (Part Two)

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Mick Turner

(continued from Part One)

When we encounter our consistent difficulties in living out the Christian life as Christ intended, one of the reasons is our lack of understanding of who and what we are “in Christ.” It often saddens me to the core to hear genuinely sincere followers of the Christ speak of themselves as “miserable sinners” or “totally depraved humans.” We speak of humanity as if we were some sort of low-grade pond scum without merit or moral fiber. What’s worse is the reality that this stilted, sinful (yes, I said sinful) view of our station as human beings has been foisted upon the church not by its enemies or other faith systems, but instead, by many of its own leaders and teachers. I find this especially shameful.

As redeemed and spiritually reborn persons, our humanity is our crowning glory. Born from above, we have been restored to the pristine glory that God originally intended for us. God has done this for us through the being, the mission, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ. Further, he has provided everything we need in order to lead a godly life (see 2 Peter 1:3) and for us to not claim this renewed life and all that it implies is sacrilege in its most rebellious form. In essence, through Christ God has restored us to righteousness and this gift of right standing with the Father is eternal. What we have to grasp is the fact that we are right now, at this very moment, as pure and as righteous as we are ever going to be. We have to be because the Father’s unfathomable holiness could not tolerate our presence at his right hand, where scripture tells us we now reside with Christ. Andrew Farley, in his great little book entitled The Naked Gospel tells us:

We find it difficult to grasp the idea that God calls us righteous because we actually are righteous. It feels more humble to believe we’re filthy worms awaiting a future change into beautiful butterflies…………..Jesus stated it best. He said that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom (Matthew 5:20). So if we Christians don’t claim to possess perfect righteousness, we are lowering God’s standard. We are watering down the gospel. We insinuate that Jesus can unite himself with sin. And we insult the perfection of God.

The point Farley is driving at is what Paul tells us time and again in Romans: we have to come to a point where we live the reality, not just believe it, that our old self has been crucified with Christ. It is dead and gone. From a spiritual perspective, this is the only possible reality. As Christians, we are now united with God through Christ and further, the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within us. On top of all this, we are also filled with Christ (see Ephesians 4:10). As hard as it may be for us to fathom, we are now the “Temple of God.” In the old temple in Jerusalem, God dwelled in the inner most room of the temple, called the Holy of Holies. Nothing impure or imperfect could enter there and even the High Priest only ventured in once each year.

Friends, we are now the Holy of Holies. We may not feel like it. We may not understand it. We may look at other followers of Christ and, knowing their shortcomings, find it hard to believe that they are the Temple of God, the very Holy of Holies. I guess that is one reason we are told that trusting our feelings is a tenuous, risky business. Scripture affirms that we are now the dwelling place of God and if God lives in us, our true being cannot be imperfect. That is why the old self had to die with Christ. Andrew Farley continues:

The risen Christ doesn’t join himself to filthy worms. The Holy Spirit doesn’t dwell in dirty sinners. Christ only unites himself with those who are like him in spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t reside in someone who remains even 1 percent flawed by sin. . . . . . . .But we have been perfectly cleansed. We have been made perfectly righteous at our core through spiritual surgery. This is the way we can enjoy even a moment of relationship with Jesus Christ.

As we look at all this, again, some of us may find it hard to believe, especially those of us who struggle with chronic, long-standing strongholds and negative emotions. We need, however, to not only believe it but live it. By that I mean we must base our thoughts, decisions, and actions upon this reality. We must come to view ourselves in precisely the same way God sees us: pure, holy, whole, and righteous.

(c) L.D. Turner 2012 / All Rights Reserved

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Getting Out of Your Negative Ruts

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Mick Turner

 Have you ever been to a modern zoo, the type where the animals are not caged? Instead, they usually are separated from zoo patrons by either large ditches, small canals, or non-descript fencing. I lived in Miami for 15 years and often visited the zoo, at least in the winter when the weather was not too hot. Whenever I went to the zoo, I could easily spot the animals that had been kept in cages for most of their lives. Now, even with the freedom to roam over a much larger territory, most of them just walked back and forth in an area the size of their former prison. Nothing held them in that confined space except the force of habit.

As Christians, we, too, often behave in ways similar to these zoo animals. When we accepted the lordship of Christ in our lives, we were given a new, liberating freedom from the power of sin in general and our habituated negative patterns of thinking, feeling, behaving, and relating in particular. Like the zoo animals mentioned above, we are now free to choose new ways of living – and a fresh approach to life. Tragically, many of us keep walking in our old familiar ways, even though a new, exciting world awaits us through our freedom in Christ. We know we are saved, but we don’t act like it. Instead of exploring fresh and free ways to be salt and light in this world, we just pace back and forth within the confines of the ruts our negative, sinful past has created for us.

And keep in mind, my friend, a rut is nothing but a grave with the ends kicked out.

We can read all the right books, listen to all the right tapes, hear all the right sermons, and go to all the right seminars – but the fact remains that we often feel completely overwhelmed when a big problem hits us. Life’s storms can be terrifying at times and it is at just these times we need to apply the principles we have learned through all of our diligent study to the process of riding out the storm. The problem is, it is at just these critical times that we find ourselves least able to apply the truths that we have learned. As a result, we often make little headway toward finding a positive solution to our dilemma.

I wish I could tell you that there was a magic answer to this problem, but I can’t. Fact is, we have to gird up our loins and get to work. We must begin with getting the focus off our problem and onto God. Until we do this, we can at best expect to tread water. Progress, however, will be minimal.

Getting our focus onto the God is critical for another reason: Satan.

Our modern culture tells us that the supernatural doesn’t exist. Even many modern biblical scholars attest that demons and Satan do not exist and are only symbolic in nature. I can admit to you that at one time, I felt the same way. By the grace of God I now see this much differently. I know for a fact that a spirit world exists right along side this one and that dark entities indeed reside there. These entities are under the control of their Commander in Chief, the Enemy, and will do anything in their power to keep you from realizing you potential and achieving your purpose.

As I mentioned, there was a time when, even though I was a Christian and very involved in the faith, I didn’t see Satan as a living entity. I saw him more as some sort of metaphor for our dark human nature and our tendency to be self-absorbed to the extreme. Like many of the contemporary biblical scholars of a liberal bent, I explained Satan away with a flurry of reasonable sounding explanations.

One day, however, a significant question came to my mind. Why I had never thought to ask this question of myself is beyond me as it seems to be so obvious. I wondered: If Satan does not exist, why does Jesus talk about him so often? And why does he not refer to him as some sort of psychological projection, if in fact that is what he is? Although it seems so basic, these questions literally stopped me in my tracks. Several friends, like the well-meaning buddies that tried to explain it all to Job, offered answers to my questions. Most of these answered basically implied that the disciples were such simpletons and Jesus was so highly developed, he had to dial back his explanations and put them in terms his followers could understand. To some extent, this answer sounds plausible but if you really think about it, it just doesn’t wash. Jesus spoke so clearly and frequently about who and what Satan was and is that he leaves little room for doubt as to the existence of this dark force in the spiritual world.

Over the following two months, the Spirit gave me wisdom and insight regarding the ever so real existence of the Enemy and it is my prayer that, if you don’t think he is as real as you, you come to understand that you are indeed mistaken.

As you work toward appropriating your new identity in Christ, be advised that you will not only be confronting your own habitual patterns of negativity, you will also be confronting powers and principalities as well. This is why scripture encourages you to “guard the heart,” (Proverbs 4:23).

It is important as well to keep in mind that your thought life is taking place in the realm of non-physical reality – the spirit world. You can take comfort in the fact that, as a Christian, God is already at work in your behalf in the spirit realm and has already won the victory. So, when beset with a flurry of negative thoughts, immediately replace them with God-soaked biblical thoughts.

Satan is not satisfied with just initiating minor skirmishes with you. No, friend, he is much more ambitious than that. His goal is all out domination and his primary target is your mind. Satan knows that by controlling your thinking, he can be reasonably assured of success. Why is this? Why is our enemy so confident? The reason is simple. Most everything we do starts in the mind with our thoughts and attitudes. Satan knows that if he can control our thoughts and attitudes he can control us, and, if he can control us, the war is won.

At least, that is what Satan thinks.

For this reason and many others, it is obvious that guarding your mind is of utmost importance. This is what Paul meant when he talked about “taking every thought captive for Christ.” I can’t stress this point enough. The battle for the mind is critical.

In attempting to discern why we keep living in negative, unproductive, and yes, even sinful ways in spite of the fact that we are “new creations” in Christ, we can now see that we war on two battlefields: our habitual behaviors and the schemes of the enemy. In reality, these two fronts of engagement are not totally separate and distinct. Satan often attacks us right where we are most vulnerable – our habitually negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Certainly there is much we can do to deal with this issue. I have found that practicing the classical spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, sacred study, worship, and so on to be of great value. Further, Paul gives us a detailed delineation of what we need to do in the sixth chapter of the Book of Ephesians. I suggest that you go to this passage of scripture and spend several weeks prayerfully pondering Paul’s advice. As you do so, make every effort to put on the equipment he speaks of. In addition, there is one other thing you can do and it is most crucial:

Trust God!

 One of the main reasons people keep living in the same old unproductive ruts is that they focus on the rut and not on the solution; they focus on the problem and not on God. The problem cannot and will not solve itself, but God can and will. Keep in mind also that if we trust God, turn our problem over to him, and let him control the outcome, we may not only find our problem solved – we may also be surprised. God’s ways are not our ways and he is not limited in what he can do. As a result, your problem may get resolved in a way that you never could have predicted. The key, of course, is to just trust God and turn your problem over to him.

Think about it.

© L.D. Turner 2012/All Rights Reserved

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The Blessings of Today: A Declarative Prayer

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For most of us, life in contemporary society is a hectic affair. Myriad responsibilities send us on our way each day as we scamper here and scamper there just trying to keep up with our daily duties. It is easy to see how we can become spiritually desensitized in a situation such as this. We lose our connection with the divine and, in doing so, we often miss the blessings of the day, both great and small.

Below is a declarative prayer I penned a few years back. I noticed that when I prayed this prayer consistently over a period of thiry days, very positive things began to happen. I began to notice things I didn’t notice before, my mood lightened considerably, and most significant of all, I once again felt a vital connection with the Holy Spirit as he walked beside me each and every day. The prayer is entitled “The Blessings of Today” and it goes something like this:

Today is indeed the first day of the rest of my life –

Today is a day of resurrection, renewal, and restoration and I greet this day with enthusiasm, confidence, and passion.

This confident passion arises from my acceptance that in Christ I am a new creation and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Today I know that the old indeed is passing away and that the new has been born. I am a being of light and love, committed to my spiritual growth, service to others, and becoming the optimal version of myself.

Today I declare, along with the Great Apostle, that with the power of the Holy Spirit, I am forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press forward into the future toward the goal and the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In Christ most blessed name,

Amen

Forgetting About God’s Will Long Enough To Do It

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Mick Turner

 “If only I could really discover God’s will for my life, it would make all the difference in the world.” How many times have you heard sincere Christians make statements like this? I’ll wager that you have heard it quite a few times. I know I have. And if the truth be known, I can recall making that same statement myself, especially during times of spiritual floundering.

I mention this because I have come to understand that this sort of statement reveals a misunderstanding of the nature of God’s purpose for our lives and how he goes about communicating that purpose so we can grasp it. Granted, I believe that God has a unique, overriding purpose for each of us, has gifted us with certain talents and abilities that help us to become successful in carrying out that purpose, and has empowered us, through the Holy Spirit, to bring that mission to a successful conclusion. I have also come to believe, however, that God also given each of us daily tasks to perform – tasks normally associated with the environment we have been planted in. It is his will that we identify and carry out these daily callings with dedication and consistency.

Unfortunately, many of us are so busy trying to figure out that one great calling God has placed on our lives that we miss his will for us in the divine present, in the holy moment that exists right under our noses. He communicates those callings in ways we can all recognize – sudden insights, little hunches, or sudden feelings or memories that may come over us. I know in my own experience, I frequently have these sorts of impulses to take certain actions when I am reflecting on passages of scripture. All too often we fail to pay sufficient attention to these callings and, as a result, frequently miss discovering God’s will for us for that one divine moment. If we do this over a long period of time, we run the risk of losing vital contact with the Holy Spirit. A.W. Tozer tells us:

…….to expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us and, if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence.

Don’t keep reading as if the profundity of Tozer’s statement somehow escaped your attention. Pause and reflect for a few moments of what he just said. If we repeatedly ignore of disobey those nudging from the Holy Spirit he may just stop communicating with us.

It is understandable, really.

If you had a close friend, a person you care for deeply, consistently ignore or refuse to listen to your suggestions for how he might improve his life or solve a particular problem, would you continue to make those suggestions indefinitely? No, I doubt you would. I know I would eventually reach a point where I would just keep quiet.

Although I firmly believe that God has a unique mission for each of us, all too often I have seen deeply committed, sincere Christians get so distracted in the search for this calling that they consistently overlook clear service opportunities right in front of their noses. More often than not, the will of God can be found in those small, seemingly mundane task that cross our paths each day. Perhaps it is something as simple as opening a door for someone, picking up a bit of litter on the ground, or helping someone carry their groceries to the car. Perhaps it is something as routine visiting a sick friend in the hospital, giving a person a ride to the pharmacy or a medical appointment, or simply providing a listening ear to a friend who needs to unload what is on his or her heart.

It is in these everyday situations where we find the true epicenter of God’s activity and where we find consistent fulfillment of God’s will for our lives. Yes, it is also true that each of us has a unique and important calling and for some of us, that mission may be a great one. For all of us, however, these little everyday encounters are where we most often can give flesh to grace by answering the call of the moment.

It is precisely that consistent practice of paying attention to the small duties of our daily round that makes a life of excellence possible. Moreover, no one ever slouched his or her way to greatness. Let’s listen to the wisdom of James Allen:

The great man has become such by the scrupulous and unselfish attention which he has given to small duties. He has become wise and powerful by sacrificing ambition and pride in the doing of those necessary things which evoke no applause and promise no reward. He never sought greatness; he sought faithfulness, unselfishness, integrity, truth; and in finding these in the common round of small tasks and duties he unconsciously ascended to the level of greatness.

Let me share a brief story from my childhood that points out how attention to the small can lead to the unfolding of God’s greater will. The story also illustrates how attending to the small and mundane can have unforeseen, far-reaching impact.  I recall a conversation a middle-aged man had with my parents in a picnic area just across the road from Casey Key Beach in Nokomis, Florida, where I grew up. I was about 11 years old at the time and my hand was in a cast (I had broken it a few weeks before playing baseball).

 I vividly remember the gentlemen telling my parents that he was walking off the beach, heading to his car when he saw a pair of empty trash bags blowing down the beach near the water. He related that he started to leave, but felt that he should go and retrieve those bags and put them in a trash receptacle. “I think all of us who live down here should take responsibility to keep our beaches clean,” I recall him saying. Rather than leaving, he returned to the water’s edge to retrieve the garbage bags.

The man went on to relate than as he was reaching for the garbage bags he heard a distant cry for help. He looked up but did not initially see anything but then heard the cry again. Scanning the water he spotted an empty beach float and saw two arms frantically waving above the water’s surface. Racing into the surf the man swam out just beyond the float and found a small boy going under the water. He grabbed the boy and brought him back to shore. Panic-stricken, the boy took the man to his parents, who were just across the road from the beach.

If you haven’t guessed by now, that small boy was me. I was leisurely floating on my rubber raft when a wave knocked me off. The water was about two feet over my head and, with my hand in a heavy cast, swimming was impossible. I had gone under for the third time when the man reached me.

I tell this story because I am personally aware of how fortunate I am to be alive. Had that man not taken the time to return to the water’s edge and pick up the garbage bags, I would in all likelihood have drowned. I would not be writing this blog, which is part of God’s will for my life, nor would you be reading it right now. Yes, my friends, this gentleman’s decision to take responsibility for a small thing, litter on the beach, has had far-reaching effects, indeed.

Attention to the small is really God’s will for our lives. And in so many ways, the small is no different from the great in God’s eyes. James Allen continues:

Neglect of the small is confusion of the great. The snowflake is as perfect as the star; the dew drop is as symmetrical as the planet; the microbe is not less mathematically proportioned than the man. By laying stone upon stone, plumbing and fitting each with perfect adjustment, the temple at last stands forth in all its architectural beauty. The small precedes the great. The small is not merely the apologetic attendant of the great, it is its master and informing genius.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to do great things. Yet this calling should never become an obsession that causes us to miss the opportunities that are presented to us in each “divine moment.” It is in the context of these moments that we discover God’s will for us in the here and now. It is also in the fabric of these sublime moments, the “holy present,” where we connect with the “Holy Presence,” the unshakable power that enables us to carry out that calling with confidence and compassion.

© L.D. Turner 2012/All Rights Reserved

N.T. Wright and the Renewal of Christianity

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Mick Turner

 

 

I am an admitted book addict and have been an avid reader since childhood. I guess there are worse things one could be and, other than spending more than I should for books on occasion and having a head full of somewhat useless knowledge, I don’t think my life is any worse for wear as a result of my excessive reading.

I mention all this because I am going to do something I rarely do in these pages: I am going to recommend a series of books by a particular author. I normally shy away from doing this because I understand that readers have a wide range of tastes and, as a result, what appeals to one may not be pleasing to another. However, from time to time I run across a book, or in this case a group of books, that are so outstanding – so relevant and informative – that I feel called to bring them to my readers’ attention.

The author of the books I will briefly discuss is N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey. Many of you are most likely already familiar with the works of Bishop Wright, especially if you are at least somewhat connected to the loose association referred to as the Emergent Church or Emerging Church. Representing a more moderate, traditional stream within the Emergent movement, Bishop Wright’s books are well-thought-out and presented in a manner characterized by logical coherence, a trait sadly lacking in far too many contemporary writers.

I would recommend any of Bishop Wright’s works, but I especially want to recommend the following quartet of titles: The Challenge of Jesus; Simply Christian; After You Believe; and Surprised by Hope. In addition to giving the reader a general picture of Wright’s theology, these four books also contain truths that are highly practical and, when applied to a disciple’s daily living, are highly transformative.

Further, Bishop Wright presents the often confusing but highly pertinent conflict between modernism (a worldview that is rapidly dying) and post-modernism, (the worldview that is replacing it). Wright’s books also paint a clear picture of where the church fits into this process and why it is necessary for individual Christians in general and the church in particular to understand and live within the context of the emerging post-modern world. Contrary to the strong desires of many in the contemporary church, Bishop Wright makes the valid point that retreat headlong into the arms of modernism is not a viable option. The following series of quotations, taken from The Challenge of Jesus, is especially illustrative of Wright’s take on the situation:

I suggest, in fact, that if postmodernism functions as the death of modernist culture, many of us will find ourselves like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We as Western Christians mostly bought a bit too heavily into modernism, and we are shocked to discover that it has been dying for a while and is now more or less completely dead. We need to learn how to listen for the hidden stranger on the road who will explain to us how it was that these things had to happen, and how there is a whole new world out there waiting to be born, for which we are called to be the midwives. The answer to the challenge of postmodernism is not to run back tearfully into the arms of modernism. It is to hear in postmodernity God’s judgment on the follies and failings, the sheer selfish arrogance, of modernity and to look and pray and work for the resurrection into God’s new world out beyond. We live at a great cultural turning point; Christian mission in the postmodern world must be the means of the church grasping the initiative and enabling our world to turn the corner in the right direction.

Bishop Wright makes the cogent observation that we stand at a major cultural crossroads. The old modernist view is dying away and the new worldview, along with its practical, concrete ramifications, is moving into the birth canal. The reality is, however, that the new world has not yet been born. As a result, our culture in general and Western Christianity in particular, is presently in a state of confused, unstable limbo. It is as if we are all stuck on an eternal Saturday, halfway between crucifixion and resurrection. What we need now is an increasing clarity as to God’s purposes and a boldness of spirit exemplified by a consistent willingness to think out of the box and take positive risks. We must never reject a new wineskin, just because it “feels different” and may even make us uncomfortable.

As Wright states, we are the midwives that will give birth to the structures and forms that Western Christianity will take as the 21^st Century unfolds. As uncomfortable as the age may seem at times, it is also a time of exciting challenge and unlimited opportunity. God is indeed birthing something entirely new and although the past is important in terms of tradition and legacy, it must never be an obstacle to what the Spirit is trying to unfold. This is evidently a very hard truth for some of us to digest, but digest it we must. If we fail to do so, we may hear Taps being blown over the entire edifice of the Western Church.

According to Bishop Wright, and I agree wholeheartedly, if we want to see the rebirth of a vital, livable, and transformational Christian faith, we must learn to live out God’s great story in our day to day lives. Our greatest evangelistic tool must be the love of God translated through the very canvas of our own lives. Bishop Wright expresses this much better than I ever could:

We must therefore get used to a mission that includes living the true Christian praxis. Christian praxis consists in the love of God in Christ being poured out in us and through us……………..We must get used to telling the story of God, Israel, Jesus, and the world as the true metanarrative, the story of healing and self-giving love. We must get used to living as those who have truly died and risen with Christ so that our self, having been thoroughly deconstructed, can be put back together, not by the agendas that the world presses upon us but by God’s Spirit.

For those of us raised in the context of the Christian tradition, much of the magnificent glory of God’s Great Story of redemption and restoration has been lost. In many cases, we have heard the story and been immersed in the symbols for so long that both the meta-narrative and the symbolic traditions have ceased to have transformational impact. For many others, the basic story has been changed to suit the theological prejudices of various groups and leaders and, as a result, the Christian faith being lived out is often a far cry from the reality that Christ ushered into being. And for still others, the traditions of the faith have been adulterated by the cultural ethic in which the particular church finds itself existing. This is especially true of the American church.

No matter the reason for the loss, the result is basically the same: we lose touch with the true splendor of Christ’s being, his mission, and how all this fits into God’s great plan of restoration and renewal on this planet. In addition, we lose our perspective on how unique and incredible the Christian faith is. We lose perspective on how unique and magnificent Jesus Christ was and is.

And when we lose that, we have lost the core of the Christian faith.

© L.D. Turner 2012/All Rights Reserved

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Wise Words for Today

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…..the Spirit of God now calls his people to live from an adequate basis for character transformation, resulting in obedience to and abundance in Christ. This really is something different. The present moment is not an occasion to keep on doing the same things Christians have been doing in the recent past – except now “really meaning it.” It is time to change our focus, individually and in our Christian groupings.

If we as Christ’s people genuinely enter Christ’s way of the Heart, individuals will find a sure path toward becoming the persons they were meant to be: thoroughly good and godly persons, yet purged of arrogance, insensitivity, and self-sufficiency. Christian assemblies will become what they have been in many periods of the past and what the world desperately calls for today: incomparable schools of life…  

Dallas Willard

(from Renovation of the Heart)

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