A Franciscan Benediction (With Addendum)

 

Cover of Prayer: does It make any difference?

Mick Turner

*** This post was originally published on LifeBrook several years ago and has had many views over the time it has been available. I am posting it again, with a new addendum included that presents a more detailed version of the originally published benediction.

I felt led by the Spirit this morning to share with you this “Franciscan Benediction,” quoted by Phillip Yancey in his book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? When I find that I drift for days or sometimes weeks without paying attention to Christ’s call for us to be compassionate citizens of his Kingdom, I often go back to this prayer, just as a reminder. We are called to be the hands, feet, and especially the embrace of Jesus in our hurting world. This benediction speaks to this reality.

May God bless you with discomfort

At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships

So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger

At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears

To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,

So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and

To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness

To believe that you can make a difference in the world,

So that you can do what others claim cannot be done

To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen

I don’t know about you, but I rarely think to pray for things like discomfort, anger, tears, and foolishness. Yet this sublime prayer truly captures the compassionate heart of Jesus, feeling the pain and suffering of the world and responding to it with healing love. The words of this benediction remind me so much of the scripture read by Jesus in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth and recorded in Luke 4:18-19:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,

That the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

I think there is no need to wax eloquent here, nor is there a reason to belabor the point. Jesus’ message was crystal clear and so are the words of the Franciscan benediction. Permit me, however, to share one more highly relevant passage of scripture from Isaiah. These verses, Isaiah 58:6-12 speak to the same theme and to the same calling; a calling that goes forth to each of us who claim the title “Christian.”

…this is the kind of fasting that I want:

Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

Then your salvation will come like the dawn and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Then when you call, the Lord will answer. “Yes, I am here,” he will quickly reply.

Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever flowing spring.

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. You will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

The words of this passage hold a special significance for me. Space in this article does not give me room to tell the whole story. Suffice to say that, in 1996, I had major cardiac surgery and an extended period of recovery. While still in the hospital after the operation, these words seemed to leap off the page at me. Over the next few months I prayed for God to reveal to me what he wanted me to do. I vowed that, since I had been given extended life, I would dedicate it to his service. Although I would have never predicted it, I ended up on the mission field in China, where I remained for over five years. These years were, without reservation, the most rewarding years of my life.

I have been home now for five years and God has continued to guide me into areas of service where I can be of use. Further, he has surprised me in some very significant ways, including, in 2004, the birth of my wonderful daughter, Salina. She was both a gift and a miracle. I suppose I should also mention that, at the time of her birth, I was 55-years-old. As I said, the Lord is full of surprises.

I didn’t mean to digress, but my point here is that, as Christians, we are to serve God through selfless service to others. Just as Jesus set us an example by washing his disciples’ feet, we have to get our hands dirty as well. But there is a wonderful promise in this. Our wounds, and we all have them, will quickly heal. Further, our light will shine out from us and God will continually guide us.

I know from my own life experience, my testimony if you will, these words ring loudly with truth. If possible, and it probably is, spend some time this week reflecting on the words from this Franciscan benediction, as well as the passage from Luke and the one from Isaiah. Pray about these words and these principles, and wait for God to make his move. A word of caution: Don’t be surprised if you are ambushed by the Spirit. I have found that he is a sublime master of the unexpected.

© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved

Addendum

The “Franciscan Benediction” quoted in the above article was taken from Phillip Yancey’s excellent book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference. A few months back, I discovered a more detailed version of the benediction in Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel. I would like to share that with you as well:

 

May God bless you with a restless discomfort

About easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,

So that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

 

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression,

And exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for

Justice, freedom, and peace among people.

 

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer

From pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you

May reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

 

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that

You really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able,

with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

 

And the blessings of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,

Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word Who is our Brother and Savior,

And the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you

And remain with you, this day and forevermore.

Amen.

© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Spiritual Maturity: Sensitivity to God’s Ways and Wisdom (Part One)

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Mick Turner

*** This article is an expansion and continuation of an original piece published on LifeBrook back in November, 2010. Parts Two and Three are to follow during early March.

As we deepen our spiritual practice, one of the most accurate ways to gauge our progress is to measure our sensitivity to our surroundings. Are we becoming more mindful? Are we able to discern patterns, themes, and the presence of the Divine in ways that we couldn’t before? Are we generally more alert to what is coming in through our senses? Especially, are we better able to see the genuine needs of others and respond in ways that are both effective and empowering? The ways in which we answer these kinds of questions will reveal much in terms of our overall progress on the spiritual journey. Wayne Teasdale, in his book A Monk in the World tells us:

 The person with a contemplative attitude, whose life is shaped by its demanding discipline, shows a wonderful sensitivity to everyone and everything. It is a sensitivity born out of an awakened capacity for union with God. Everything, every person and situation, becomes an occasion for communion with the mystery in the silence of the heart. Alert, attentive, receptive and responsive, the contemplative person is awake to the possibility of communion with the source in every action.

 Alert – attentive – receptive – responsive – these descriptive terms used by Wayne Teasdale accurately portray the presence of a mindful, spiritually mature human being. In essence, as we mature we are becoming increasingly aware of the ways and wisdom of God. Moreover, we are better able to accept, internalize, and manifest that wisdom in our daily lives. If we are not becoming beings that consistently exhibit these holy characteristics, something is amiss in our spiritual journey and it is important to discover the problem and rectify it.

 I have found that Christian meditative practices in general and the varied methods of contemplative prayer to be excellent tools, enabling an individual to come to a receptive, open state which allows one to hear or feel the leadings of the Holy Spirit. The more sensitive and discerning we become in these matters, and the more skilled we become at finding and resting in the Sacred Silence, the more clarity we can possess when it comes to recognizing the communication and wisdom of the Indwelling Christ.

 When the Master walked the earth he did not do so as an autonomous agent. Instead, he spoke, taught, and acted only as directed by the voice of his Father, stating clearly that “I can of myself do nothing” (John 5:30). Repeatedly, Jesus spoke to his disciples on this theme of divine dependence. Over and over he emphasized that his life was not his own. Instead, his life was a clear vessel through which his Father lived.

 Whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:19)

 I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (John 5:30)

 I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. (John 8:28)

 In relation to his teachings, Jesus was very direct regarding the source of his message. He even went so far as to say that the Father not only told him what to say, but how to say it!

 For I do not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. (John 12:29)

 Although some theologians have lofty speculations as to the nature of the intimate nature of the relationship between the triune aspects of God, in my mind this remains a mystery. The fact that it is a mystery, however, in no way makes it any less true or significant. What is important is for us to realize that it is precisely this kind of divine intimacy that Jesus now expects to have with us. Just as he was intimate with the Father and spoke only as directed by the Father, Jesus now indwells us and wants to live through is just as the Father of Lights lived through him. Whenever I contemplate these mysteries, I am reminded of the Master’s words in the great prayer of John 17:

  I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 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 who sent me (John 17:20-21 NLT).

 After praying that all disciples throughout the ages be blessed with the same kind of intimacy that exists between himself and the Father, in the next verse Jesus speaks clearly about how this is to be manifested:

 I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me.

 In these verses scripture reveals that we now are related to Christ in a way that he was related to the Father. “I am in them and you are in me.” Putting this together with what we discussed earlier about how Christ lived his life on earth as an open channel through which the Father could live, the implications for our lives should be clear.

 We should live our lives as open channels through which Christ may live on earth. When Paul talks about the church being the “Body of Christ,” he is not speaking symbolically. In a very real way each of us, as believers, serve as a body for Christ. It is not enough that we strive to imitate Christ or ask ourselves what Jesus would do. We need to become open, receptive, and willing vehicles that the energy of Christ can use to establish his kingdom right here on earth, right now.

 For the first disciples there was a special moment when everything changed in terms of their relationship with both Christ and the Father. And subsequently, it was an equally special moment for all believers that followed. Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola provide a vivid description of this moment in their book, Jesus Manifesto:

 The glory of the gospel is that we who are fallen, tarnished, and marred have been invited to live our lives in the exact same way that Jesus lived His life: by an indwelling Lord.

 Let’s go back to resurrection day. It is evening. Jesus appears to ten fearful men in a sealed room. He penetrates the door and stands before them.

The Lord bids them peace, and then He takes a deep breath. As a resurrected, life-giving Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ breathes into these men the wind of God’s own life.

 Behold we show you a mystery: Just as God the Father lived in Jesus, so now God the Son will begin to live in these ten men. The “only begotten” has now become “the firstborn among many brethren,” and God is now the Father of these disciples.

 Leonard and Viola make the point that from that moment on things underwent a powerful transformation in the lives of the disciples. Whereas before Jesus breathed this divine life into them they were operating under their own power, afterwards they lived in the same manner that Jesus lived – “by the power of an indwelling Lord.” In other words, just as we discussed above, these early disciples became living vessels through which the Master continued to live. The authors then state the clear point of all this:

 What the Father was to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is to you. He’s your indwelling Lord. When the veil of the temple was ripped from top to bottom, He got out and we got in……………Because all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in Christ, the Father and the Spirit are also pleased to dwell in you. As amazing as it sounds, the entire Trinitarian community has taken up residence inside of you……You, then, are the victim of a divine conspiracy. You have become the habitat of the living God.

 The Living God now has his residence in each and every one of his children. Our job is to arrange our lives in such a way that we can become more aware of and sensitive to the voice of the Lord as he speaks to us in whatever way he chooses. I have found that the Master speaks in myriad ways – sometimes I discern his presence while resting in the Sacred Silence while at other times he might speak to me through holy scripture or the work of spiritual writers. There are times he speaks through the actions and words of others and I have also found that some of his clearest messages come through the media of the natural world.

To be continued……..

(c) L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

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• Spiritual Maturity: Sensitivity to God’s Ways and Wisdom (lifebrook.wordpress.com)

The Death of Sunday Christianity

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L.D. Turner

Christianity, as most Americans have known it, is in its final death throes. Almost all denominations have witnessed dramatic reductions in membership numbers and fewer converts are entering the faith than at any time in its history. Many view this as a negative trend and in some respects perhaps it is. On the other hand, I firmly believe that something highly positive and creative can be birthed out of the current travail of the institutional Church.

This positive birthing, however, will require a major paradigm shift.

Robin Meyer speaks clearly regarding the current situation of the church and its seeming inability or unwillingness to feed those very people who are so spiritually hungry.

There is a deep hunger for wisdom in our time, but the church offers up little more than sugary nostalgia with a dash of fear. There is a yearning for redemption, healing, and wholeness that is palpable, a shift in human consciousness that is widely recognized – except, it seems, in most churches.

Strangely, we have come to a moment in human history when the message of the Sermon on the Mount could indeed save us, but it can no longer be heard above the din of dueling doctrines. Consider this: there is not a single word in that sermon about what to believe, only words about what to do. It is a behavioral manifesto, not a propositional one. Yet three centuries later, when the Nicene Creed became the official oath of Christendom, there was not a single word in it about what to do, only words about what to believe!

My friends, there is something wrong, drastically wrong, with this picture. Doctrine can do no more than guide our thoughts in one direction or another. It has no transformative power of its own, however. Today’s church is by and large an impotent institution and the sooner we get our minds around that salient fact the better. Only when we confront the reality of the situation the postmodern church finds itself in can we begin to make plans for any kind of effective, beneficial, transformational, and lasting change. Until we come to grips with the enormity of our problems, we are only whistling in the wind.

Over the course of the centuries since Christ walked the earth, we have gone about domesticating Jesus and his mission. In the process of doing so, we have lost something very important – in fact, the very source of the church’s life. By taming Jesus and toning down the revolutionary character of what he is calling for, we have lost contact with the vine. And the Master told us quite clearly what happens when such a thing occurs. Branches die when they are severed from the vine.

In the meantime, we have settled for a weak-kneed, timid imposter of a church. At the heart of the church is a fabrication, a weak-kneed imposter of a Savior that is a far cry from the revolutionary firebrand that set his world ablaze 2,000 years ago. Instead of the radical, world-changing Jesus, we have settled for a much safer version – a version that, in the words of Brian McLaren, is a:

…..popular and domesticated Jesus, who has become little more than a chrome-plated hood ornament on the guzzling Hummer of Western civilization…

It’s no wonder people are fleeing the church in staggering numbers. Robin Meyers continues:

The earliest metaphors of the gospel speak of discipleship as transformation through an alternative community and reversal of conventional wisdom. In much of the church today, our metaphors speak of individual salvation and the specific promises that accompany it. The first followers of Jesus trusted him enough to become instruments of radical change. Today, worshipers of Christ agree to believe things about him in order to receive the benefits promised by the institution, not by Jesus…..Christianity as a belief system requires nothing but acquiescence. Christianity as a way of life, as a path to follow, requires a second birth, the conquest of ego, and new eyes with which to see the world.

 The Demise of “Christendom”

It is imperative that those of us who identify ourselves as followers of Jesus accept one salient fact: in terms of the West, the era of “Christendom” is over.” The church as we have known it, both in terms of actual numbers and cultural impact, is dead. The sooner we come to grips with this reality, the sooner we can get on with the business of birthing its successor.

It is important that we face facts here. The version of the Christian faith that has been dominant in the West over the past two to three centuries eventually evolved into something akin to what I call “Everglades Christianity.” I grew up in southwest Florida and later, as an adult, spent 15 years living in Dade County. As a result, I became quite familiar with the famous “River of grass.” The fact is, the Everglades is a river that flows south from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. It is about one foot deep and 50 miles wide. Everglades Christianity is a similar phenomenon. Our churches are filled will too many believers that are quite satisfied with big numbers and shallow substance. This version of the Christian faith is superficial, focused on belief rather than genuine spiritual experience, and more often than not, choked to death by legalism and rigidity of thought.

Increasingly, however, there are more optimistic voices being heard regarding the future of the Christian faith. Perhaps the passing of Christendom, especially as described above, is not such a bad thing. It is only when the old forms of a tradition are removed that room for something new and refreshing is created. Michael Frost, an Australian Christian writer and professor, sounds a more positive tone when he says:

….there are other voices that express real hope – not in the reconstitution of Christendom, but in the idea that the end of this epoch actually spells the beginning of a new flowering of Christianity. The death of Christendom removes the final props that have supported the culturally respectable, mainstream, suburban version of Christianity. This is a Christianity expressed by the “Sunday Christian” phenomenon wherein church attendance has very little effect on the lifestyles or values or priorities expressed from Monday to Saturday. This version of Christianity is a façade, a method for practitioners to appear like fine, upstanding citizens without allowing the claims and teachings of Jesus to bite very hard in everyday life. With the death of Christendom the game is up. There’s less and less reason for such upstanding citizens to join with the Christian community for the sake of respectability or acceptance. The church in fewer and fewer situations represents the best vehicle for public service or citizenship, leaving only the faithful behind to rediscover the Christian experience as it was intended: a radical, subversive, compassionate community of followers of Jesus.

 I am of the opinion that future historians will look back on this period of church history and describe a rich tapestry of theological transition, eventually resulting in a new Reformation. These same historians will see that the polarization between the liberal/social gospel branch of the church and the fundamentalist/conservative/evangelical branch, spurred on by the Emergent Church movement over time led to a synergy that gave birth to a vital, comprehensive, service-oriented Christianity steadily grew in terms of both numbers and cultural influence. People who formerly beheld organized religion with marked suspicion were now among its most ardent and committed advocates. Many of you may be thinking right about now I have gone around the bend, but I trust my own insanity regarding this issue. I have great optimism for the church’s future and trust that just as the prophet Isaiah recorded long ago, God is once again telling us:

 I am about to do something new.

See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

I will make a pathway through the wilderness.

I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and the owls, too, for giving them water in the desert.

Yes, I  will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed.

(Isaiah 43: 19-20 NLT)

 Am I being too idealistic? I hope so. It is only when the idealistic people in this world catch God’s vision and spread it far and wide does major and lasting change take place. In the words of the late John Lennon:

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one….

In a similar vein, Michael Frost continues:

I, for one, am happy to see the end of Christendom. I’m glad that we can no longer rely on temporal, cultural supports to reinforce our message or the validity of our presence. I suspect that the increasing marginalization of the Christian movement in the West is the very thing that will wake us up to the marvelously exciting, dangerous, and confronting message of Jesus.

The new Christianity that is taking shape comes in many forms and, in the long run, will appeal to a wide variety of spiritual seekers. It is difficult to accurately predict what the picture of the faith will be like twenty years from now, at least in the West. Whatever forms eventually coalesce and move forward, we can be sure, however, won’t be the “Sunday-go-to-meeting” variety of Christianity that dominated the past century. In and of itself, that is a step in the right direction.

 © L.D. Turner 2010/2011/All Rights Reserved

Kingdoms in Conflict: Culture vs. Christ

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Mick Turner

David Platt, in his landmark book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, describes how he, like the majority of American Christians, had rocked along for years with little awareness of the true implications of Jesus’ teachings regarding our obligation to the poor. And, also like most American Christians, Platt relates that he had even less awareness of the plight of those living in oppressive poverty, much less how this had anything to do with his spiritual journey. He then goes on to describe his personal epiphany regarding poverty, suffering, and its connection to the teachings of the Master he professed to follow:

Suddenly I began to realize that if I have been commanded to make disciples of all nations, and if poverty is rampant in the world to which God has called me, then I cannot ignore these realities. Anyone wanting to proclaim the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth must consider not only how to declare the gospel verbally but also how to demonstrate the gospel visibly in a world where so many are urgently hungry. If I am going to address urgent spiritual need by sharing the gospel of Christ or building up the body of Christ around the world, then I cannot overlook dire physical need in the process.

Platt’s spiritual awakening was life-changing and, in his role as a pastor and writer, the impact of his personal transformation was even more far-reaching. Platt’s voice, along with an increasing number of spiritually-astute Christians, is sorely needed in today’s world, a world in which each day an estimated twenty-six thousand children die of starvation or preventable disease. If Christ physically walked the earth today, there can be little doubt that he would not stand for such a tragedy. The ironic thing is this: Christ does walk the earth today, in the form of the church, yet we pretend these dying kids don’t exist. In spite of our Christian claims of compassion and service, we are successful in our ignorance of the true extent of the problems in our world. Platt continues:

…..I have turned a blind eye to these realities. I have practically ignored these people, and I have been successful in my ignorance because they are not only poor but also powerless. Literally millions of them are dying in obscurity, and I have enjoyed my affluence while pretending they don’t exist.

But they do exist. Not only do they exist, but God takes very seriously how I respond to them.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 25, describing the final judgment and the separation of the sheep and the goats leave little room for doubt as to how serious he takes the plight of those in need. The chapter closes with some of the Master’s most severe teachings regarding the treatment of those in need. Jesus equates turning away from those in need with turning away from himself:

Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Pause for a moment and prayerfully reflect on what Christ just said here. In the overall scheme of things, I can’t imagine the pain and suffering awaiting the enemy and his minions. As God’s divine story of redemption and restoration winds toward its conclusion, the judgment and justice that will be meted out to Satan and his followers is a horror that defies description. Yet think of it – the very same fate awaits those who turn a blind eye, a deaf ear, and an empty hand to those in dire need.

You will rarely hear a sermon on these themes preached in contemporary churches. This is a teaching that runs counter to the values of our culture and certainly is politically incorrect for those Christian joined at the hip with the more fiscally conservative of our two political parties. The fact is, however, no matter how you try to rationalize it, explain it away, ignore it, or even deny it – it is right there in the 25^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel. As uncomfortable as it may be, a so-called Christian ignores this teaching at his or her own peril.

Jesus’ emphasis on compassionate action toward the poor should come as no surprise to any biblically literate Christian. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Christ began his comments in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth with these words:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

For Jesus, these statements were far more than sugar-coated platitudes or uplifting affirmations. Instead, these power-filled words were a pronouncement of the coming of God’s Kingdom to earth and a challenge to the status quo. These words, which Jesus boldly stated were fulfilled in that synagogue that very day, were a shot across the bow of the people’s religious comfort zone. No wonder they tried to throw him over a cliff.

Our culture’s values, and in many cases, the values quietly but deeply held by those professing to be Christians, run counter to the teachings of Jesus. This is especially true when it comes to material possessions in general and personal wealth in particular. I recall in the last Presidential election one candidate was consistently criticized for wanting to “redistribute wealth” in America. Ironically, those most vocal in calling this candidate to task over this issue were Christian Republicans. The fact of the matter is, however, that a redistribution of wealth was exactly what Jesus consistently called for and the practices of the early church were much closer to Socialist ideals than any form of capitalism.

Our culture, steeped in praise and admiration for individualism and free enterprise, has infiltrated and weakened the gospel in America. This is not a recent phenomenon, but has been taking place since the founding of our nation. I am not saying these principles are necessarily wrong or sinful, but please, let’s not blaspheme Jesus by somehow insisting that he would approve of so much wealth being in the hands of one percent of the population while 26,000 children die each day from starvation and preventable disease. If you want to rail against sin, this kind of thing is the real sin.

I understand that what I am saying is not popular nor is it in keeping with the conservative political agenda of Republican Christians. Nevertheless, it is high time those on the Christian Right prayerfully examined the “faith and values” they hold so dear. Some ideas of those on the Christian Right may have a degree of merit, but please, let’s not degrade the Master by putting our words in his mouth. They just don’t fit. I conclude with the following words by famed scholar and writer Houston Smith, which although lengthy, are a great summation of the topic being discussed:

…we have heard Jesus’ teachings so often that their edges have been worn smooth, dulling their glaring subversiveness. If we could recover their original impact, we too would be startled. Their beauty would not paper over the fact that they are “hard sayings,” presenting a scheme of values so counter to the usual as to shake us like the seismic collision of tectonic plates…We are told that we are not to resist evil but to turn the other cheek. The world assumes that evil must be resisted by every means available. We are told to love our enemies and bless those who curse us. The world assumes that friends are to be loved and enemies hated. We are told that the sun rises on the just and the unjust alike. The world considers this to be indiscriminating; it would like to see dark clouds withholding sunshine from evil people. We are told that outcasts and harlots enter the kingdom of God before many who are perfunctorily righteous. Unfair, we protest; respectable people should head the procession. We are told that the gate to salvation is narrow. The world would prefer it to be wide. We are told to be as carefree as birds and flowers. The world counsels prudence. We are told that it is more difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom than for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye. The world honors wealth. We are told that the happy people are those who are meek, who weep, who are merciful and pure in heart. The world assumes that it is the rich, the powerful, and the wellborn who should be happy. In all, a wind of freedom blows through these teachings that frightens the world and makes us want to deflect their effect by postponement – not yet, not yet! H.G. Wells was evidently right: either there was something mad about this man, or our hearts are still too small for his message.

I encourage you to spend time over the next few days prayerfully considering these words of Houston Smith as they echo the words of Christ and present them in stark comparison to the values of our culture. Ask the Holy Spirit to assist you in becoming deeply aware of all of your clever strategies for rationalizing and avoiding the difficulty of Jesus’ teaching. Ask for help in discerning where and how you place our culture’s values above those of the Master. For me, this was a humbling yet eye-opening experience. I trust it will be for you as well.

© L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

Wise Words for Today

How we view God dramatically affects who we become. How we understand God to work directly affects the life we live in God. Even the subtle shift from receiving Jesus to following Jesus is significant. The first allows us to remain stationary as God comes to us; the second demands our moving with God. When Jesus walked this earth, His disciples had to keep up with Him. If they were to stay close, they had to choose to leave the life they lived without Him and go wherever He would go…..The path is thick with mystery, danger, and the unknown. The quest is to live the life God created you to experience. The journey begins right now – in this moment. And whatever you do, don’t underestimate what you may find.

Erwin Raphael McManus

(from Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment)

Essentials for the Spiritual Life: Mindfulness and Meditation

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Mick Turner

Essentials for the Spiritual Life: Mindfulness

Most of us slumber through our days, running on a soporific autopilot that gives us the impression of busyness but masks a general inefficiency. We are as far from functioning at our optimal capacity as Tacoma is from Timbuktu, yet we look at all of this and in our scattered, inattentive state we judge it to be “normal.”

If for only a moment we bring to a halt our incessant mental chatter; if for only a moment we rein in our flitting, darting attention; if for only a moment we were actually in the moment we might hear the enlightened voice of the Wise One calling to us down the hollow corridors of 2,500 years, advising us simply to slow down and:

Wake up!

 

 Mindfulness is not a strong suit in western culture. A fast-paced, hectic lifestyle joined at the hip to myriad responsibilities creates an environment where the pursuit of mindfulness is at best a pipe dream for most people. Our minds are scattered between work, family, finances, and a plethora of other pressures contending for our attention. It is little wonder that most of us feel stressed, overwhelmed, and on the cusp of burnout most of the time.

The irony here is that mindfulness may very well constitute the solution to this ulcer-inducing way of life that most of us call “normal.” The fact is, once we really learn to be mindful and fully attentive to what we are doing, we become more efficient and able to accomplish more while expending less energy. Further, my personal experience has taught me that when I am truly conscious of my actions, my feelings, and my thoughts – I am less likely to feel overwhelmed and stressed. I find that I can remain at least marginally centered in spite of conflicting pressures and voices jockeying for my attention.

Mindfulness is at its core a spiritual issue. Although all faith systems stress mindfulness to some extent, nowhere is it a more central theme than in Buddhism. Mindful living is one of the central components of the Noble Eightfold Path described by Gautama Buddha as the path out of human discontent. I have found that when I make a consecrated commitment to work on mastering my monkey mind through consistent meditation practice and make efforts to become more mindful, life becomes generally better. Nothing really changes externally – the same pressures, responsibilities, deadlines, and stress – they are all still there. But something gradually begins to change internally as a personal anchor of centeredness begins to take shape. Although I am not perfect at it and certainly I am a long way from the calm demeanor of a Mahatma Gandhi, I am less likely to appear as a trance channel for Yosemite Sam.

Personally, I find it hard to wrap words around the full array of positive qualities that emerge from the practice of meditation and becoming more mindful. Perhaps that is one of the reason I appreciate the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, a pioneer in the use of mindfulness and meditation practice in health applications. Kabat-Zinn, in his book Coming to Our Senses, gives one of the best descriptions I have encountered:

More than anything else, I have come to see meditation as an act of love, an inward gesture of benevolence and kindness toward ourselves and toward others, a gesture of the heart that recognizes our perfection even in our obvious imperfection, with all our shortcomings, our wounds, our attachments, our vexations, and our persistent habits of unawareness. It is a very brave gesture: to take one’s seat for a time and drop in on the present moment without adornment. In stopping, looking, and listening, in giving ourselves over to all our senses, including mind, in any moment, we are in that moment embodying what we hold most sacred in life. In making the gesture, which might include assuming a specific posture for formal meditation, but could also involve simply becoming more mindful or more forgiving of ourselves, immediately re-minds us and re-bodies us. In a sense, you could say it refreshes us, makes this moment fresh, timeless, free up, wide open. In such moments, we transcend who we think we are. We go beyond our stories and all  our incessant thinking, however deep and important it sometimes is, and reside in seeing what is here to be seen and the direct, non-conceptual knowing of what is here to be known, which we don’t have to seek because it is already and always here…..In words, it may sound like an idealization. Experienced, it is merely what it is, life expressing itself, sentience quivering within infinity, with things just as they are.

 

From Kabat-Zinn’s description, it is obvious that coming to live in the present moment, to be mindfully attentive to what is happening in front of our eyes, is a spiritual experience of high significance. On rare occasions, we may be granted by grace a glimpse of this unadorned reality of “just what is” beyond our ideas about what is. These moments are personal epiphanies, always remembered and transformational in nature.

As special as these moments are, they rarely come frequently unless a persons prepares the soil for their coming. That is where meditation comes in. Teachers from all faith traditions stress the importance of spending time in meditation and/or contemplation. For some reason not completely apparent, the more time we spend in proximity of the “Sacred Silence,” the more likely we are to experience these divine moments of pristine clarity. Meditation, whatever form it may take, appears to prepare the soil of our being for the coming of these special times when we actually see what is before us. Meditation and mindfulness are the twin practices that increase our capacity to be receptive to these divine gifts of the Spirit.

In my own experience, those forms of meditation that lend themselves to the quieting of the mind have proved the most beneficial when it comes to opening up to the kind of special encounters described above. My preference has been the utilization of techniques involving focusing my attention on my breathing as an anchor to which my often skittering mind is tethered and brought under at least a modicum of control. For others, mediations involving visualization, chanting, or mantra may be more conducive to the experience we are discussing. Whatever the technique, the important component is regularity of practice. The more we meditate, the more mindful we will become. This is a simple equation, but it has been consistently verified.

I am of the firm conviction that the more mindful people become, the more they will be able to master themselves and by doing so, behave in ways that are less problematic and more harmonious. Meditation is the pathway to mindfulness and mindfulness is indeed, a great blessing to one and all.

At times the search for happiness can take on the character of a greased pig at a county fair. Running, dodging, weaving, the porker seems to elude your grasp with the uncanny skills of an old Kung Fu master. And then, just when you think you have the hog in your clutches, it looks at you with a wry grin and slithers away, leaving you with an arm full of air and Oleo.

Dogen once compared enlightenment to “moonlight in a dew drop, dripping from a duck’s beak.” Or, was it a crane’s beak? I suspect it is the same either way. In a very similar vein, a very wise and eccentric old Daoist teacher I met when I lived in China said that catching a glimpse of pristine reality, shimmering in that sublime and sacred space between our thoughts, was like capturing a tiger in the ass of a gnat.

Aside from the obvious lessons here, Dogen’s teaching and that of the old Daoist both point to the fact that both happiness and the wisdom of enlightenment are found by being present to what I like to call “the divine moment.” It is precisely here, in the “sacred now” that we discover that for which many of us seek so diligently. It is right here, right now, right before us that we discover that which was never really hidden.

I don’t know about you, but I often struggle with the mindfulness necessary to discover the blessed pearls of the present moment. My mind, as the enlightened tell us, is like a monkey, jumping here, flitting there, and forever raising a ruckus of sound and fury. If this is true, and it certainly is, then my mind is often like a monkey on steroids. It just refuses to accept the tether I seek to employ. My mind, indeed, has a mind of its own.

Still, I refuse to give up on such an important issue. I make every effort to improve in this area of my life. To my way of thinking, the more mindful of the moment I am, the better my chance of discovering the divine in the mundane reality of daily living; blessings that I didn’t even know existed; and perhaps most important, messages God may have for me. I firmly believe that we often miss divine guidance because we don’t have ears to hear and the reason we don’t have ears to hear is that we are too busy and too noisy.

I have found that mindfulness and mediation are inseparable practices. The process of meditation is, in reality, an exercise in establishing mindfulness in a specific place for a specific amount of time. The object of our meditation may vary – it could be the breath, a mantra, a prayer, a candle flame, or whatever. You see, to meditate is to be mindful and I have found that the more often and the more consistent my meditation practice is, the more I am able to be mindful when I am not meditating.

Some people complicate mediation way too much. They either turn it into some arcane practice from Inner Bhutan, complete with Tibetan chants and visualizations of everything from Indra’s Net to Shiva’s phallus. It doesn’t have to be this way, really. Countless sages from every spiritual tradition will tell you that counting the breath is enough.

Meditation also involves getting off your cushion, mat, zafu, or what have you and taking that pristine awareness into the world of your daily living. I love the following words by Jon Kabat-Zinn about the essence of meditation and mindfulness:

We need to develop and refine our minds and its capacities for seeing and knowing, for recognizing and transcending whatever motives and concepts and habits of unawareness may have generated or compounded the difficulties we find ourselves embroiled within, a mind that knows and sees in new ways is motivated differently. This is the same as saying we need to return to our original, untouched, unconditioned mind.

 

How can we do this? Precisely by taking a moment to get out of our own way, to get outside of the stream of thought and sit by the bank and rest for a while in things as they are underneath our thinking, or as Soen Sa Nim liked to say, “before thinking.” That means being with what is for a moment, and trusting what is deepest and best in yourself, even if it doesn’t make any sense to the thinking mind.

 

From Kabat-Zinn’s words we can see that there is nothing mysterious, esoteric, or bizarre about this process of mindfulness. More than anything else, it is a simple and straightforward effort toward self-mastery, which is an essential goal on the path of spiritual evolution. Although many people tout the virtues of the undisciplined life and, as some say, “going with the flow,” this is in contradiction of the real Zen life. If you happen to be fully enlightened and your karmic debts have been paid in full, then you might consider going with the flow. If you happen, however, to be like most of us, you will readily admit to seeing through a glass darkly and that your karmic spreadsheet still has plenty of red ink. For most of us, going with the flow will garner  an experience that resembles more than anything else, the life of a log.

 

From Kabat-Zinn’s description, it is obvious that coming to live in the present moment, to be mindfully attentive to what is happening in front of our eyes, is a spiritual experience of high significance. On rare occasions, we may be granted by grace a glimpse of this unadorned reality of “just what is” beyond our ideas about what is. These moments are personal epiphanies, always remembered and transformational in nature.

In essence, to meditate and become mindful in our comings, goings, risings, and fallings – in our successes and our failures and in our joys and our suffering – is indeed the experiential definition of a mainstay of the spiritual life: engagement.

To be engaged is to be truly alive, vital, involved, and useful. It is the foundation of all effective spiritual service. When we are mindful we can be engaged, and when we are engaged, really right there in our wholeness in the totality of the divine moment, we become part of the solution rather than the problem.

 © L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

United Methodist Church Aims At Relevance And Global Service: Part One

L. D. Turner

If you are a regular visitor to this site, you know that I often write about the major changes that are changing the face of institutional Christianity across the board. You will also recall that I have a sincere love and passion for the church, despite its many shortcomings, and genuinely believe that Christianity, when rightly practiced, has much to offer our hurting world. With its inherent creativity, its heart of compassion, and its depth of resources, the church universal is strategically positioned to become a positive force in helping shape our culture as this turbulent century progresses. The key to bringing these positive contributions to fruition is a willingness on the part of the church to be creative, progressive, flexible, open, and proactive.

 I have been a member of the United Methodist Church for many years and am proud to say that our church is moving forward in an attempt to make itself a positive and beneficial force in the world and, in keeping with its mantra of “open hearts, open minds, and open doors, is doing so in a creative and exciting way. The UMC “Rethink Church” programs, along with the Ten Thousand Doors initiative, are but two examples of this.

 Most recently, however, I came across a document that reminded me why, early on in my adult life, I chose to become a Methodist. The document I am referring to explains the rationale behind the UMC initiative entitled, God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action. It is the “Foundation Document” for the initiative and is authored by the UMC Council of Bishops. After reading this “Call to Hope and Action” my Wesleyan fires were blazing to say the least. And while I am sincere in my belief that denominational differences in this country are far too overblown, this document illustrates the social principles of the UMC.

 “God’s Renewed Creation” maintains the firm commitment of the 1986 Council , namely that “nuclear deterrence is a position that cannot receive the church’s blessing. These documents, generated in 2009, also build on the observations of the earlier Council, that the nuclear crisis threatens “planet earth itself,” that the arms race “destroys millions of lives in conventional wars, repressive violence, and massive poverty,” and that the “arms race is a social justice issue, not only a war and peace issue.”

 The 2009 Council of Bishops expanded its focus to include three interrelated threats:

 Pandemic poverty and disease;

• Environmental degradation and climate change, and
• A world awash with weapons and violence.

 “God’s Renewed Creation” gives me both hope and a sense of loyal pride at being a part of the United Methodist Church as well as the Wesleyan tradition of social ministry. Recognizing that the world as we know it has become an interrelated, interdependent global entity, the UMC leadership is taking a proactive stance in terms of addressing some of humanity’s most critical issues. Also recognizing that the church has historically been part of the problems in our world, the Council of Bishops now seeks to become a creative and transformative part of the solution.

 The United Methodist Church has the vision to see that God is doing a “new work” in the world and is taking positive measures to be an integral part of God’s work at this critical point in our planet’s history. Rather than taking a myopic, “what’s in it for us” approach to humankind’s crucial problems, the Council of Bishops has given voice to a vision that is much broader in scope and, in keeping with the Wesleyan heritage of befriending the hurting and the marginalized, seeks to bring God’s healing grace to those who suffer the most in this time of rapid change.

 The “Call to Hope and Action” reflects the United Methodist Church’s mission to “Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.” Additionally, the vision of God’s Renewed Creation clearly reflects the denomination’s “Four Areas of Focus.” The Foundation Document states:

 We know the world is being transformed and we seek to cooperate with God’s renewing Spirit, especially through our denominations Four Areas of Focus: (1) developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world, (2) creating new places for new people and renewing existing congregations, (3) engaging in ministry with the poor, and (4) stamping out the killer diseases of poverty. Focusing on these four areas will shape our discipleship such that those who seek God will see an image in our behavior that is inviting, encouraging, healing, and inspiring.

 As a United Methodist, I clearly see the personal implications of these four areas of focus and, along with the biblical teachings of the Master, use them as a matrix through which I organize my personal spiritual disciplines. I especially find the principles of inviting, encouraging, healing, and inspiring helpful reminders for putting into practice what I have come to call proactive hospitality. This type of hospitality is not only sensitive to the everyday, routine ways of being open and hospitable in our homes and churches, but also actively looks for ways we can practice hospitality to others, even if it is nothing more than smiling and saying hello.

 Personally, I seek to practice proactive hospitality by holding doors open for people and allowing them to enter before I do. This may seem like a very small thing and perhaps it is. However, I have found this to be a simple practice that has enormous benefit when carried out over a period of time.

 The Foundation Document takes great care to show how the various problems facing humankind in this age are interrelated. For example, the issue of climate change is examined from an angle somewhat different than the norm. Rather than focusing on whether or not climate change is man-made or part of a natural cycle, the Council of Bishops views this vital issue in terms of its impact on those living under the thumb of oppressive poverty. In addition, climate change and poverty are seen as interconnected with violence and the sale of arms.

 Climate change poses a particular threat to the world’s poor because it increases the spread of diseases like malaria and causes conflicts over dwindling natural resources. Easy access to small arms ensures that such conflicts turn deadly, and the specter of a nuclear war that would destroy the world continues to loom over us.

 The Foundation Document was created out of the Council of Bishops being “called to speak a word of hope and action.” The document is also a product of the church’s sensing of God doing a new things, as described in Isaiah 43:19:

 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

 As I read over the document the first time I was able to experience that sense of calling – that blessed sense of God’s love in action in the world. I understood at a deeper level that we, indeed, are living in a critical era in the world’s history – an age in which the matrix of the future is beginning to take shape. The Foundation Document, which came into being in reaction to the critical nature of our time, addresses the needs of our age – an age the document calls “a hinge of history. In terms of its contents, the Foundation Document of God’s Renewed Creation:

 Describes the interconnected nature of poverty and disease, environmental degradation and weapons and violence through stories of those most affected;

• Shares information about Christian scriptures and beliefs, and our Wesleyan heritage in order to provide a foundation for our response.
• Recommends a variety of actions; and
• Reminds us of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the great sources of encouragement and hope all around us.

 To be continued

 

Wise Words for Today

Jesus’ kingdom is not like the other kingdoms of the world, and that’s the point. It is a different kind of kingdom than the worldly kingdoms based on money, power, violence, and sex. The kingdom of God, which Jesus came to inaugurate, is meant to create an alternative reality in this world and, ultimately, to transform the kingdoms of this world. Inaugurated by Jesus, but not yet brought to its final fulfillment, it is always a kingdom that is “already” but “not yet.”

Jim Wallis

(from The Great Awakening)

Wise Words for Today

I truly believe that to live a life without the pursuit of goals is to sin against God. It is to shut off all challenges of God to extend oneself to others. It is to be a very poor steward of the precious gift of life that God has given to each one of us. And it is to live in disobedience to God’s call to grow in Christ Jesus, to mature in Christ, and to be conformed to Christ. It is to deny that God’s initial purpose and plan for a person’s life were valid, and it is to turn away completely from the potential that God has placed inside each person.

Charles Stanley

(from Success God’s Way)

Personal Authenticity and Spiritual Worldview

Mick Turner

Spiritual transformation is not so much a process of creating a “new you” – but instead, is about becoming the “real you.” As we increasingly grow “in Christ” we are led by the Holy Spirit into a deeper level of self-evaluation and, as the Spirit reveals to us both our strong and weak points, we gain understanding into who we are and why we do what we do. It is sometimes a painful process as we begin to see who and what we are behind the various masks we create. Still, this is a part of the process that we must undergo if we are to become useful vessels in God’s kingdom.

 In essence, it is all about becoming a person of “authenticity.” An authentic person is a person who is guileless and consistently exhibits impeccable integrity. If more of us displayed just these traits, an absence of guile and consistent integrity, think of how different life would be. Wouldn’t things be more pleasurable and less taxing emotionally if we consistently dealt with people who are trustworthy and responsible?

 You see, that is exactly what would happen if we developed enough authenticity to operate without guile and lack of integrity. We could count on others being worthy of our trust and we could also reasonably expect them to do what they said they were going to do.

 Many of you must be thinking that this is both naïve and unrealistic. In the real world where “look out for No. One” is the most fundamental moral principle, to think that people can be trusted or that we can expect them to be responsible is nothing more than pie-in-the-sky idealism. This is certainly a viable response, at least on the surface of things. However, I think we need to take a deeper look.

 Think of it like this – if we can never expect people to become better than what the currently are, why bother? The fact is, people can become better, a good deal better. Spiritual growth is not only possible, it is practical and furthermore, we live in a universe that is both evolving and purposeful. As integral parts of that evolving universe, we humans, as a whole, are also subject to what amounts to a universal law: something either grows or it dies. As we look about the created order, we can see this principle at work. The minute something stops growing, it begins the process of disintegration. God created a purposeful world and that purpose is continuing to unfold. As part of that purposeful creation, we, too, must continue to grow.

 I am always amazed at those people who contend that spiritual formation and the classical spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith are not “biblical.” The fact is, if we didn’t need to grow spiritually, we wouldn’t need a Bible. Further, the notion that we can do nothing to improve ourselves is, in my mind, the worst form of heresy. Not only does it confuse justification with sanctification, but it also slanders the consistent teaching of Jesus, Paul, and Peter. Moreover, it ignores the biblical fact that Jesus, Peter, Paul, and all the rest – prayed, fasted, meditated, and practiced spiritual disciplines such as solitude, celebration, and especially, selfless service to others.

 At the end of the day, the purpose of spiritual transformation is to become more authentic and humankind is in the process, sometimes slowly and certainly with pockets of resistance, becoming more authentic.

 If we are to, indeed, become more authentic persons the obvious question becomes, from a spiritual standpoint: How do I become more authentic?

 Chances are if you ask this question of a dozen different people, you will get 12 different answers, depending on the spiritual framework or tradition a person identifies with and advocates. Still, I think it is vital that we find at least a few universal principles that will help us answer this important question. Regardless of our spiritual tradition, I tend to think we can begin our journey toward authenticity by laying the proper groundwork and this fundamental task is accomplished through the establishment of moral integrity filtered through a well-thought-out and internalized worldview.

 Authentic personhood and its foundational spirituality begin and end with personal morality. As I have expressed in other writings, our own system of personal values and morals should serve as the foundation stone for our lives. For me, this means that I have to have a clearly defined worldview and, as part of that worldview, clarity of vision in terms of what is right and wrong. My personal value system serves as my North Star, guiding my actions and fostering better decision making as well as personal integrity. My personal worldview and its component system of morality serves as a matrix through which not only are decisions made, but also, a filter to determine and evaluate how disciplined I actually am. How consistent am I in terms of keeping my behavior in line with my system of personal morality?

 A further connection between personal values and my overall worldview is the ability to judge behaviors, feelings, and thoughts in relation to my worldview. Is a particular action, for example, conducive to living by my code of ethics? Will a particular action or decision move me toward the goals that flow out of my worldview? In this sense, is a specific course of action productive or counter-productive in reaching my goals and manifesting my purpose and vision? In this sense, our worldview becomes the matrix through which we can filter our thoughts, feelings, actions, and the events we encounter in our daily lives.

 As we have seen, the presence of an internalized system of values and moral integrity, coupled with and flowing from a well-reasoned, cogent worldview are necessary if we are to mature as authentic persons. All of these things, taken together, are intimately connected with one another and form a kind of “spiritual hologram.” By this I mean that each component, the value system, moral integrity, reasoned worldview, and authentic personhood, contains all the elements of the other components.

 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.

 Authentic personhood, personal responsibility, trustworthiness, and the other spiritual traits we have discussed all flow from the common source of moral integrity and this foundational integrity is anchored in our worldview. Without a worldview, we have no compass to guide our actions – no North Star to serve as a reference point as we attempt to navigate the uncharted waters of our current cultural drift. Using another analogy, it is like weightlessness. Using the metaphor of gravity, Elisabeth Elliot speaks to the importance of our calling to discipleship:

 In space, astronauts experience the misery of having no reference point, no force that draws them to the center. The effort of performing ordinary activities without the help of that pull is often vastly greater than it would be under normal conditions (try pouring a glass of water, eating a sunny-side-up egg, or turning a screwdriver – water will not fall, the egg will not stay on your fork, the screwdriver will not revolve; you will). Where there is no “moral gravity” – that is, no force that draws us to the center – there is spiritual weightlessness. We float on feelings that will carry us where we never meant to go; we bubble with emotional experiences that we often take for spiritual ones; and we are puffed up with pride. Instead of seriousness, there is foolishness. Instead of gravity, flippancy. Sentimentality takes the place of theology. Our reference point will never serve to keep our feet on solid rock, for our reference point, until we answer God’s call, is merely ourselves. We cannot possibly tell which end is up. Paul calls them fools who “…measure themselves by themselves, to find in themselves their own standard of comparison.”

 From what we have covered in this article, it should be apparent that we, as both a culture and a spiritual tradition, need more people who exhibit authentic personhood, personal integrity, and purposeful living. In fact, it is around such people that the emerging forms of the Body of Christ must be built. With Christ as the cornerstone and authentic people as the foundation, the church can not only survive – it can come alive and thrive.

 © L.D. Turner 2009