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

Mary Writing the Magnificat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

On several occasions I have received either comments or emails from readers of this site, stating in one way or another that they cannot “figure me out.” Most of these readers are cordial and genuine in writing to me, but for some reason or another, I don’t seem to fit well into whatever box they might be trying to squeeze my thought into. My advice to these friends is this: “Better get a shoe horn.”

The fact is, I guess, I am just a bit of a theological maverick. I have found over the years that labels are, at least for the most part, meaningless. Some folks consider themselves to be conservative believers, while others take pride in being called liberal. Others are fundamentalists and yet others are emergent. I suspect that some of my readers’ confusion stems from the fact that I have beliefs that bridge these many Christian camps and, as I said, I can’t be pigeon holed. And guess what? I think that’s a positive thing.

Let me explain.

Emerson once said that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” One of the things I think he meant by this statement was that, if you allow an external source to define your beliefs, you are often forced compromise the integrity of your mind in order to remain consistent with whatever the school of thought you might be identified with. For example, if you consider yourself to be a fundamentalist you readily understand that fundamentalists believe in the Virgin Birth. As a self-identified fundamentalist, you realize that you, too, should believe in the Virgin Birth. This state of affairs is no real problem unless you find that you don’t really believe in the Virgin Birth. Now you have a dilemma on you hands. The way many folks solve this conundrum is to either say that they do, in fact, believe in the Virgin Birth when they really don’t or they convince themselves they believe in it, even if they don’t. The result is the person in question has compromised the integrity of his or her mind. In order to be consistent with a pre-defined worldview, the person claims to or pretends to believe in something he or she does not believe in.

The other end of the theological perspective has equal problems. Let’s say you are a very liberal Christian. You have read Spong, Borg, Crossan, Tillich, and all the right authors. Of course, liberals don’t believe in the deity of Jesus, at least most of them don’t. But what happens if you discover that you do believe in the deity of Jesus. Well, now you have the same problem as the fundamentalist discussed in the previous paragraph. In order to be consistent with what a liberal is supposed to believe, you compromise and even convince yourself that Jesus was just another “great moral teacher” and your problem is solved. Unfortunately, now you have a bigger problem. Your integrity is gone.

I can speak of these issues with a certain amount of certainty and at least a modicum of clarity because I have, as they say, been there – done that. By the grace of God, there came a time when I got fed up with having others determine the content of my worldview and went on a quest to figure out just what it was that I really did believe. I won’t bore you with the details of my search except to say that as things progressed, I felt more at ease because I understood what I actually thought was true, rather than trying to force myself into a pair of theological shoes that were designed for someone else.

Before traveling any farther down this road, let me say a few words on why I believe the development of a biblical worldview is essential. Further, once we have formulated such a worldview, it is even more effective to apply it to our daily living. A biblical worldview is vital for the effective Christian life. As believers, our worldview is to serve the foundational purpose of providing a matrix through which we can filter our life experiences and, perhaps even more important, provide a framework for our decision making. Just from these few facts it is obvious that a biblical worldview is to be much more than a pile of theological clutter that we stuff into the corner of the mind and forget about. On the contrary, a biblical worldview gives meaning and purpose to the events of our lives.

I have come to look at the simplest yet most complete definition of a worldview as follows: A biblical worldview is one in which we think like Jesus. Having a biblical worldview, in a sense, makes life easier and harder at the same time. Easier because we have sound scriptural guidelines that help us make everyday decisions; harder in that we often resist putting what we know to be correct into action. Further, I firmly believe that in order to implement a biblical worldview we have to not only think like Jesus, but act like Jesus as well. In order to do this, we have to engage in the types of practices that he engaged in. Namely, we have to make a consecrated effort to practice spiritual disciplines, especially prayer, on a regular basis. If Jesus needed to do this, we certainly do. George Barna describes his decision to discern and formulate his worldview:

 

For years I was scared off by the term “biblical worldview.” It had connotations of breadth and depth that were overwhelming. But the more I realized that my own Christian life was a haphazard series of disjointed choices only marginally and inconsistently influenced by my faith, the more determined I became to get serious about worldview development.

I concur with what Barna is saying here. In my own case, I came to realize that my daily thoughts, actions, and decisions were only marginally influenced by my faith. I also sensed that this is true for the vast majority of professing Christians and this may be one of the main reasons the modern church is so weak in the demonstration of its faith. Ultimately, this lack of worldview development and a concurrent walk of faith that is consistent with that worldview take us into the realm of personal integrity and evangelism. If we do not walk in a manner consistent with our faith, then we are not being true to who we really are. We lack personal integrity. Second, when others see us walking in ways contrary to what we profess to believe, it gives Christianity a bad name. It is even easier for non-Christians to use the time worn excuse of “not wanting to associate with hypocrites.”

Most non-Christian expect a lot more from us than God does. It is quite easy for those outside the faith to point to our failures, our scandals, and our myriad shortcomings. What many of these folks fail to understand is that Christians are still all too human.

As stated at the beginning of this essay, many readers find themselves asking, “Where is this guy coming from?” “Is he a liberal or is he a conservative?” The fact is, I am neither and both. I am just who I am and, like Popeye, that’s who I am.

I would also say that it is important to know that I full well understand that I am really quite limited in the scope of my knowledge. William Barclay, the great biblical scholar, once said he had, at best, a “second-rate mind.” I have read extensively in Barclay’s works and can say without reservation that if his mind is second-rate, then mine is surely way on down the scale in double-digits. I have come to understand that I can, in fact, be wrong. That is one reason why I don’t involve myself in theological arguments or nitpick over the finer points of doctrine. What do I know? Further, for me to strongly insist that someone else has a view that is erroneous smells of arrogance when you get right down to it.

Some Christians feel they have been called to be “Watchmen on the Walls,” beating the bushes in search of heretics and other misfits and nomads within the Body of Christ. Perhaps this is, indeed, a genuine calling and, if it is, I pray they live according to that lofty purpose. I am not one of them, however. I don’t think I have ever labeled anyone a heretic and doubt that I ever will. Why not, you ask? The fact is, when you get down to the honest truth of the matter, I don’t have enough knowledge to make that judgment. I am not giving you a false humility here. I am speaking from my heart. I, like many others, see through a glass darkly and have far too many doctrinal logs in my eye to start picking at the theological specks in someone else’s.

One other thing needs to be mentioned as well. Doctrinal and religious debates, as I mentioned in another article posted a few months back, tend to get a bit testy. Rarely have I seen one of these discussions go on for long before folks start launching verbal grenades that have little to do with the point they were originally trying to make.

I avoid these discussions and debates like poison ivy for the following reasons. First, as already mentioned, my knowledge is too small for me to be the final arbiter of any doctrinal dispute. Secondly, these kinds of conflicts promote discord rather than unity, and it is unity we are called to, not discord. Finally, I stay away from doctrinal fights because these sorts of disputes often put people in the position of having a choice to be “right” or to be “kind.” I’ll opt for kindness every time.

The fact is I have a potential placed in me by God Himself and it is God’s desire that I find my mission and get moving. You, too, have a mission – a divinely ordained purpose and it is God’s great wish that you take up the challenge of finding that purpose, manifesting your potential and talents, and achieving your dreams. Let’s listen now as popular pastor Joel Osteen, in his fine book Become a Better You, speaks about the importance God places on your dreams:

Scripture teaches that we have a valuable treasure on the inside. You have a gift. You have something to offer that nobody else has. You didn’t just show up on planet earth by accident. You were handpicked by Almighty God. He saw you before you were formed in your mother’s womb and placed you here for a reason. You have an assignment. There’s something that God wants you to accomplish. Somebody needs your touch. Somebody needs what you have.

 It is a cardinal truth of the spiritual life, my friend. Somewhere right this minute someone you don’t yet know needs you. Someone needs exactly what you are equipped to offer. Just as God has organized all of creation with a finely-tuned balance that is so incredible that it is beyond comprehension, He has also organized the great dance of spiritual life in such a way that we each have a part that only we can contribute. If we don’t realize our potential and live out our deepest dreams, we rob the world of something of immense value. We rob the world of the optimal version of who we are and when we do that, everyone loses and the Holy Spirit is grieved.

Be careful that you don’t take your talent to your grave. Leave your legacy, your gift here so that others can prosper from the simple fact that you lived and cared enough to live rightly.

© L.D. Turner 2008/2012/All Rights Reserved

Wise Words for Today

Image from the Book of Kells, a 1200 year old book. Category:Illuminated manuscript images (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To seriously follow the spiritual journey, particularly amid our world’s busyness, one must learn to guard the preciousness of time by savoring the beauty of our periods for prayer or meditation, reflection, reading, work, study, and relaxation. Awareness of time’s value and a commitment to live one’s spiritual journey in this consciousness is a test of the maturity of a person’s spirituality. Only by guarding one’s time against the onslaught of distraction can we advance in our commitment to the mystical dimension of our existence. Only when we regard time’s precious relationship to our inner life, only if we understand its necessity for spiritual growth, can we begin to use time more wisely.

Wayne Teasdale

(from A Monk in the World)

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

Orthodox Church of Holy Spirit in Medzilaborce, Slovakia Polski: Cerkiew Świętego Ducha w Medzilaborce, Słowacja Slovenčina: Pravoslávny chrám Svätého Ducha v Medzilaborcach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

continued from Part Three…

Discovering Our Call To Purpose

Three terms that are often heard when discussing our “purpose” in life are purpose, mission, and calling. These words often used interchangeably and can mean basically the same thing. I think the confusion comes in when an author or speaker uses these three expressions to mean different things. With that thought in mind, whenever I use these words, I take them to mean basically the same thing. Our mission, our purpose, and our calling refer to our God-given reason for being here on this planet at this time. In addition, I firmly believe that God has a highly specific calling for each of us that has three primary aspects:

 

• It is personal and specific to us;
• It is related to our spiritual gifts
• The realization and actualization of this mission is a major part of our spiritual formation and helps grow into the optimal version of ourselves.

In the next section we will talk about vision and it is important to understand how mission and vision are different. Our mission or purpose is far more general than our vision. Basically, you can say our vision is the specific way in which we will realize our mission.

We can say that your mission is your life calling, your reason for being here. It is not so much specific activities as it is the reason you perform those activities. Your mission gives your life meaning and gives you positive motivation to get out of bed each morning and, in positive faith, face the challenges that may come your way. Your true mission is a major motivator, something you enjoy doing, and something for which you have passion and enthusiasm.

One thing is guaranteed. If you cooperate with God and consecrate yourself to the process of becoming the optimal version of yourself, you’ll end up becoming far more than you ever imagined possible. In his infinite wisdom, God has given you divine potential to achieve your divine calling and, as we have seen, has equipped you perfectly to carry out that calling. As you work toward realizing your divine purpose, your will undergo great personal and spiritual change. You will be transformed into something far greater than you ever imagined.

Living With Vital Vision

A fundamental component of living a life of spiritual optimism is the birth, development, clarification, and realization of your personal vision. Solomon tells us in Proverbs that without vision, the people perish. The same principle is true for all of us. We may not physically die without having a personal vision to guide and direct our steps, but we will surely die spiritually. Without the motivating presence of our own vibrant, vitalizing, vision we surely cannot manifest the optimal version of ourselves.

A vision consists of our perception of our particular mission in life and more precisely, defines the specific framework within which we will carry out that mission. Vision gives us a sense of direction, acting like a compass when we lack certainty about our direction in life. In this sense, vision gives us a basis upon which we can make positive and effective choices among various options that might be available to us. A personal vision gives us hope and courage, especially when we are feeling overwhelmed or when we are confronted with difficulties or setbacks.

As mentioned earlier, vision is intimately related to purpose but more specific. Put simply, vision is the method whereby you see yourself living out your mission to completion. Living with vital vision involves every area of your life and how those aspects of your life related to your personal mission. Your vision involves your family, friends, associates, and especially your choice of career. Ideally, all of these things come together in a harmonious orbit around the specific vision you develop for carrying forward your mission.

Arriving at your vision is a process, not an event. It requires much planning, organization, and flexibility. Most significantly, developing your vision involves deep, focused, and above all, consistent prayer. You cannot expect to discover what God wants you to do and the best way to do it without communing with Him on a regular basis. Pray that the Holy Spirit walks with you, guiding you, and challenging you to move forward with your vision, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. More than anywhere else in the process of growth into excellence, the phase of vital vision may require you to think out of the box.

A simple way to look at the relationship of vision and mission is as follows. Let’s suppose that three friends all have a mission to provide convenient, quality, fast-food to busy workers. One may decide to open a Burger King franchise, another a Pizza Hut. The third may have a vision of a Taco Bell. You see, the mission of quality fast-food is the same; the vision of each friend is different. I realize this example is overly simplistic, but I do think it serves our purposes of demonstrating how a vision is a specific plan for carrying forward a more general mission or calling.

The concept of personal vision is intimately tied to at least four other significant factors in the life of a sincere spiritual aspirant: God, dreams, purpose, and optimism. Although space does not allow for a detailed discussion of these four critical connections, let’s take a brief look at how personal vision is tied to them.

It is imperative to understand that your personal vision is a Spirit-designed and Spirit-imparted phenomenon. Through my work with individuals and groups over the past 35 years I have come to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit imparts a specific, achievable, personal vision to each of us prior to our birth on this planet. Further, God not only gives us this vision, but also supplies us with all the talents and gifts we need in order to bring that vision to life and completion. We may have to work at honing and sharpening those Spirit-given talents but we should always keep in mind that those gifts come from a divine origin.

Our dreams are also connected to our vision. I am not talking about the kind of dreams we have when we sleep. Instead, I am talking about those dreams that we entertain as we imagine what we would like to do and what goals we would like to accomplish. The dreams I am speaking of here have to do with our imaginings of becoming the best that we can be and even more significant, making a positive contribution to the world. These dreams, like our personal vision, come from God. I am convinced that our dreams are one method the spiritual realm uses to communicate to us about our personal vision. We, therefore, should never discount our dreams, no matter how far-fetched they may initially seem.

In fact, there are many times that the most impossible dreams have their origins in the mind of God. Think about it. I believe Divine Intelligence desires that we always remain cognizant of the fact that we are ultimately dependent upon him for everything. With this truth in mind, it is very reasonable to assume that the Holy Spirit may indeed give us dreams that are impossible to fulfill without a vital connection to the Divine Source. Perhaps I evaluate a dream and feel inspired, but say to myself, “That’s something I could really get into and it meets a very real need. Still, there is no way I can ever do that by myself.” God, in response, may very well be saying, “No, you can’t. But we can.” The Bible clearly tells us that with God, all things are possible.

I suggest that over the next week or so you set aside some time to examine your dreams, both current and from the past that, for whatever reason, you did not allow to grow and develop. Study these dreams and ask for guidance in gaining insight into how these specific dreams may now be or may have been connected to your personal vision. Do you see any common themes in these dreams? If these dreams somehow were to become manifest in reality, what specific and beneficial purpose would they serve? This exercise may help you in your search to discover the exact nature of your personal vision.

How do I discover my vision? There is no one way to do this, but one thing is true: Start by discovering your personal purpose. Your vision should then flow out of that purpose. Discovery of our purpose (mission) is intimately tied up with our personal vision. One thing I have discovered over the years about uncovering purpose and vision is this: You have to be creative and think outside the box. At first, don’t discount any idea just because it seems impossible. Often, God gives us impossible things to do so that we can discover that we need him to do anything of last worth.

Art Sepulveda, Senior Pastor of the Word of Life Christian Center in Honolulu has written an excellent book entitled, Focus: What’s in Your Vision. In this book Pastor Sepulveda gives the following guidelines for envisioning your future:

Expand your horizons by stretching your imagination

Nurture new ideas

Vote for positive changes with a welcoming attitude

Imagine the impossible

Stay ahead of tomorrowInvent the future

Operate expectantly

Notice unlimited opportunity

The pastor’s suggestions are first-rate and I would encourage anyone interested in kick-starting the process of discovering their person vision to implement his ideas. I think you will discover that developing vision is not nearly as difficult as you have imagined it to be. The reason for this is that you are not so much trying to invent something that doesn’t exist; instead, you are actually uncovering the outline of something placed in your heart by God before you took your first breath.

Finally, let’s see how your dreams, purpose, and vision connect with optimism. It is a connected as part of a process that begins with potential and ends with the glory of assisting in the realization of God’s kingdom on earth. Let’s take a look at a synopsis of this process – a process that can only lead to Christian optimism.

to be continued….

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

Related articles

• The Unfolding of Sacred Potential (Part Three – Revised and Expanded) (lifebrook.wordpress.com)
• The Unfolding of Sacred Potential (Part One – Revised and Expanded) (lifebrook.wordpress.com)
• The Unfolding of Sacred Potential (Part Two – Revised and Expanded) (lifebrook.wordpress.com)
• A Note on Unfolding Divine Potential (lifebrook.wordpress.com)

Happy Birthday LifeBrook!

 

Image via Wikipedia

As I was looking through the archives of the LifeBrook blog I discovered an interesting bit of information. This week marks the fourth birthday of LifeBrook. As they often say – “My, how time flies.”

I recall starting the blog back in 2008 in response to a calling to explore the use of electronic media as a venue for spiritual formation, specifically as it applied to blogging. At that time, I never dreamed the site would still be around four years later and I certainly had not entertained the fact that it would be as popular as it has become.

I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to those readers who take the time to stop by LifeBrook and it is my hope that you continue to find something positive here – something that will help you in your process of spiritual unfolding. The mission statement that I composed when LifeBrook first went up here on WordPress remains the same. It is my sincere wish that this site continue to provide material that will enable readers to:

Become the optimal version of themselves for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

Blessings in His Light:

Mick

Christ’s Identity: Making It Personal

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Mick Turner

In an attempt to express the complexities of the Christian path in as simple a fashion as possible, I am increasingly looking at things in a broader, yet at the same time more personal, perspective. Considering this, it seems to me that in order to fully grasp the significance of Christian spiritual formation, we have to at least begin with the following:

1. Come to understand exactly who Christ is.
2. Come to understand exactly what He accomplished in His mission on earth.
3. Once we comprehend fully the above two aspects of Christ, his identity and his work, we must then make a decision as to what our personal response to Christ will be.

This decision should be made based on our understanding of who Christ was, is, and what he accomplished. Our personal decision must not just be the standard “accept Christ as your personal savior” bit. Instead, it must be formulated deeply in relation to:

1. How much am I willing to surrender my life and will to Christ?
2. To what extent am I aware of what following Christ means in general and what it means in my personal situation in particular? Also, to what extent am I aware of what it means to be a Christian disciple within the ever-shifting and highly fluid parameters of this exciting but spiritually challenging age?
3. The above two points are directly related to Christ’s instructions that a person should “count the costs” of real discipleship. Am I ready to put my hand to the plow and not look back?
4. In addition to the personal aspects of our response to Christ, we must look at all this in terms of the corporate response to Christ. How is the Body of Christ, in all its various forms, supposed to respond to Christ’s true identity, His accomplishments, and His ongoing mission?

Approaching the faith within the parameters of these four vital questions goes a long way toward giving us a sort of “broad brush” perspective on not only what following Christ means, but specifically, what it means to each of us as individuals.

Further, I think these are questions that every believer should ask himself or herself on a fairly regular basis. I say this because at any given time, the particulars of our response may be different. At one season of life Christ may be calling you to one course of action, while at another time, he may be calling you to another. I say this not from general theory, but from personal experience. Over the course of my life Christ has called me into arenas of service involving not only the church, but also in working with the elderly, with the mentally ill, with alcoholics and drug addicts, with AIDS patients, with the homeless, and even to the mission field in Asia, where I served five years.

I encourage those who read this short article to spend some time in prayerful reflection over these four areas of concern. Ask for insight and wisdom, as well as discernment, and I feel very assured it will be forthcoming in due time.  And I especially encourage you to truly reflect on the incredible, mind-boggling reality of just who and what Jesus Christ was and is. I promise you that if this reality truly penetrates your mind and your heart, you will never, ever be the same.

© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Exercising Dominion Begins With Yourself (Part One)

Cover of Byways to Blessedness

Mick Turner

We live in an age where taking personal responsibility for oneself and one’s behavior is an endangered commodity. Increasingly, we have become a culture of “vitimitis,” where no one is really ever a fault for anything. Instead, our problems, whatever they may be, are the result of the malfeasance of another or some series of bad breaks and misunderstandings. When all else fails and we can’t find someone or something to blame our troubles on, we can assert along with Stooge Curly Joe: “I’m just a victim of circumstance.”

Let’s face facts and not seek to become overly intellectual or get bogged down in a mire and muck of philosophical sophistication. The reality of the situation is actually quite simple: until you establish control over your thoughts, feelings, and behavior you life is going to be characterized by instability and difficulty. Until you develop personal discipline, you will exist but never truly live.

 Referring to an undisciplined person, James Allen states:

He does not intelligently reflect upon life, and lives in a series of sensations, longings, and confused memories which are unrelated to any central idea or principle. A man whose inner life is so ungoverned and chaotic must necessarily manifest this confusion in the visible conditions of his outer life in the world; and though for a time, running with the stream of his desires, he may draw to himself amore or less large share of the outer necessities and comforts of life, he never achieves any real success nor accomplishes any real good, and sooner or later worldly failure and disaster are inevitable, as the direct result of the inward failure to properly adjust and regulate those mental forces which make the outer life.

 I still clearly recall the time I first read these words by James Allen, along with the above cited comments about taking a meandering route down “trackless wastes of perplexity.” If ever a message described my undisciplined nature, especially related to my thought life, this one surely did. Allen’s words hit me between the eyes with the impact of a 2×4. It was, in short, one of those personal epiphanies that we are blessed with from time to time. I’ll be the first to admit that at the time it didn’t especially seem like a blessing, but in retrospect, that is exactly what it was. It was this revelation, engineered no doubt by divine forces, that began the process of a profound change in my thought life. Did that transformation take place overnight? Of course not; but it did take place and I am forever thankful. Allen, in his remarkable little work entitled, Byways to Blessedness, continues by describing the necessity of getting a grip on our cognitive life:

Before a man accomplish anything of an enduring nature in the world he must first of all acquire some measure of success in the management of his own mind. This is as mathematical a truism as that two and two are four, for, “out of the heart are the issues of life.” (Here Allen is referring to Proverbs 4:23). If a man cannot govern the forces within himself, he cannot hold a firm hand upon the outer activities which form his visible life. On the other hand, as a man succeeds, in governing himself he rises to higher and higher levels of power and usefulness and success in the world.

 We all seek a North Star, a point of reference to which we can align ourselves and thereby judge our position. Without such a point of reference, we waste valuable time and energy, flitting here and wandering there and ending up nowhere. John Wesley wisely taught that when seeking such an anchor for our lives, we can turn to four sources: tradition, scripture, reason, and experience. During the course of my life, there have been occasions where I have used any one or combination of these sources to make proper judgments and reach vital decisions. Yet more than any other source, I have found greatest value in that “inner light” which God deposited in me. Known by many names, this is indeed the “light which lights every man that comes into the world” as John so aptly put it in the famous Prologue to his gospel. It is this same inner luminous core that George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, spoke of as the radiant wellspring of Christian revelation.

If we are to reach any degree of mastery over our lower self, we must establish, deepen, and maintain steadfast contact with this inner light. James Allen, speaking in context of establishing an anchor for our lives, describes the process in very succinct terms:

A man does not commence to truly live until he finds an immovable center within himself on which to regulate his life, and from which to draw his peace. If he trusts to that which fluctuates, he also will fluctuate; if he leans upon that which may be withdrawn he will fall and be bruised; if he looks for satisfaction in perishable accumulations he will starve for happiness in the midst of plenty…Be contented that others shall manage or mismanage their own little kingdom, and see to it that you reign strongly over your own. Your entire well-being and the well-being of the whole world lies there. You have a conscience, follow it; you have a mind, clarify it; you have a judgment, use and improve it; you have a will, employ and strengthen it; you have knowledge, increase it; there is a light within your soul, watch it, tend it, encourage it, shield it from the winds of passion, and help it to burn with a steadier and ever steadier radiance. Leave the world and come back to yourself. Think as a man, live as a man. Be rich in yourself, be complete in yourself. Find the abiding center within you and obey it.

Often the Holy Spirit brings to our attention areas of our thought, feeling, action, or belief that are either inaccurate or no longer serve a useful purpose. It then is incumbent upon us that we cast aside these aspects of our being. Paul speaks to this theme repeatedly when he tells us to take off the old and to put on the new. James Allen tells us:

He who would be clothed in new garments must first cast away the old, and   who would find the True must sacrifice the false. The gardener digs in the weeds in order that they may feed, with their decay, the plants that are good for food; and the Tree of Wisdom can only flourish on the compost of uprooted follies.

 At first glance, it would seem this process of personal mastery and changing problematic behaviors would be simple. We just identify those behaviors and make up our minds not to engage in them anymore. However, as anyone who has ever tried to change deeply ingrained behaviors will attest, this process is far more difficult that it seems. Further, we are often our own worst enemies when it comes to this sort of personal mastery.

From the time I was five years old I have been an avid baseball fan. I played the sport throughout my school years and, once I became an adult, played competitive softball for many years.

I normally played middle infield, either second base or shortstop. For many years I used the same softball glove. In fact, I used it so long that the strings kept breaking, all the padding was gone out of the pocket and the leather was cracked in several strategic places. Nevertheless I refused to buy a new glove, in spite of the frequent protestations of my teammates.

The reason was simple. I was comfortable with this old glove. It molded to my hand perfectly over the years and it felt reassuring to put in on before I took the field. All too often, however, I would catch a hard line drive right in the pocket and my hand would sting, then remain numb for several minutes. Still, I wanted no part of a new glove.

A new glove, as anyone who has played the sport knows, is a real pain for awhile. It feels funny, awkward and stiff. It is easy to make errors with a new glove, at least until it is broken in properly. No, my old glove was find thank you very much.

One day our third baseman wasn’t able to make the game and I played the so-called “hot corner.” Things went okay for the first two innings. Then, in the third inning the batter hit a hard liner right at me. I responded quickly and raised my glove, only to have the ball break right through the ancient webbing an hit me square in the forehead, knocking me out cold.

Two days later I bought a new glove.

My experience with my old softball glove is not unlike my experience with the behaviors that flow from my old self. No matter how much I try to take off the old and put on the new, the old keeps rearing its head and biting me. I suspect that I am not alone in this predicament.

Many of my old behaviors, like my old softball glove, may hurt me time and time again. But, they are comfortable in the sense that they are familiar and predictable. My old self resists change and it is here that we are vulnerable to our habitual responses to life, however unhealthy and painful they may be.

To be continued……

 © L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

The Discipline of Attentiveness

Mick Turner

If ever a passage in scripture was in need of a fresh perspective, it is where Paul tells us that we are to “pray without ceasing.” I know in my own case, praying daily is discipline enough, but this business of praying without let up is more than a little overwhelming. Obviously, there is a subtle, deeper meaning here.

I have come to view mindfulness as being prayer. When I am mindful of the moment before me, when I give myself to whatever task I am doing without distraction, then that is prayer. Barbara Brown Taylor says that prayer is:

….waking up to the presence of God no matter where I am or what I am doing. When I am fully alert to whatever or whoever is right in front of me; when I am electrically aware of the tremendous gift of being alive; when I am able to give myself wholly to the moment I am in, then I am in prayer.

I find this author’s words both challenging and inspirational. For years now, with God’s help, I have made efforts to be “fully alert” to whatever or whoever is right in front of me. I have not always been successful, far from it, but I have made solid improvement. Over time, with diligent effort and divine assistance from the Holy Spirit, I, too, had those blessed moments where I felt “electrically aware of the tremendous gift of being alive.” These moments were always filled with awe, pregnant with meaning, and elicited from me a sense of what Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel calls “radical amazement.”

When you get right down to it, our lives are played out in a series of moments. Each of these moments have the capacity to be life-changing moments, but we often fail to see this because we are too caught up in our own dramas and distractions to notice that we are standing in the midst of sacredness.  Yet the fact is each moment we move through is pregnant with potential and myriad possibilities – possibilities that often indeed house divine messages just for us if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. I especially love how Erwin Raphael McManus, pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles describes the power of the divine moment:

However mundane a moment may appear, the miraculous may wait to be unwrapped within it. You rarely know up front the eternal significance of a moment. When a moment is missed, you have a glimpse at an opportunity lost. When you dream, you look to a moment still to come. The moment that you must seize right now is the one in front of you. …..Yet moments are not independent, isolated, or disconnected. What you do with this moment affects every moment to come. This is your moment. The biblical imagery for a moment is the wink of an eye. In other words, don’t blink or you’ll miss it.

to be continued…….

(c) L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

The Divine Hologram: Christ’s Cosmic Nature (Part Two)

Mick Turner

As thinking Christians, we all need to pause and prayerfully consider the implications of this small but powerful verse. We must reflect upon the philosophical and existential ramifications of what Christ has accomplished and how all of this plays out in our daily lives as Christians living in the 21^st century. For starters, we can say, along with Paul, that it is within the body of the Cosmic Christ that we “live and move and have our being.”

During the time that Christ walked the earth, his original band of disciples enjoyed intimate closeness with the Master. During the 40 days following the Resurrection, that level of intimacy continued. There has been much debate within the church over the nature of Christ’s body following the Resurrection, but the real issue here is the fact that the disciples were able to have continuing closeness with Jesus. Now, in our time, we also can partake of that divine intimacy due to the action taken by Jesus as described in Ephesians 4:10. Christ, through interpenetrating all aspects of creation, has made himself accessible in a way that even the early disciples were not privy to. The fact is, if our spiritual eyes are open, we can see Christ everywhere.

If scripture is indeed “God-breathed” and is to be believed, then the intimacy we now have with Christ far exceeds anything those who lived before his Ascension could have ever imagined. Even more, this closeness with Christ is as close as our own heartbeat. Christ infused the entire universe with his being, turning all reality into a type of spiritual hologram. The Master penetrated everything, including you and me. When I first really grasped this reality, I mean really took hold of it (or perhaps it took hold of me) – it was like someone slapping me in the face and screaming, “Wake up.” I can safely say my life, although still far from perfect, has never been the same. In her remarkable book, The Wisdom Jesus, Cynthia Bourgeault shares the following poem, penned by the 11^th century Greek Orthodox spiritual master Simeon the New Theologian:

We awaken in Christ’s body

 as Christ awakens our bodies,

and my poor hand is Christ. He enters

my foot and is infinitely me.

 

I move my hand, and wonderfully

my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him

(for God is indivisibly

whole, seamless in his Godhood).

 

I move my foot, and at once

He appears in a flash of lightning.

Do my words seem blasphemous? – Then

open your heart to Him.

 

And let yourself receive the one

who is opening to you so deeply.

For if we genuinely love Him,

We wake up inside Christ’s body

 

Where all our body, all over,

every most hidden part of it,

is realized in joy as Him.

And he makes us utterly real.

 

And everything that is hurt, everything

that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,

maimed, ugly, irreparably

damaged, is in him transformed

 

and recognized as whole, lovely,

radiant in his light.

We awaken as the Beloved

in every last part of our body.

 

I encourage you to spend quality time alone with these words from Simeon the New Theologian. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your spiritual eyes and grant you the same manner of vision as the poet exhibits – the kind of vision that will allow your spiritual heart to open like a flower before the sun and grant you full understanding of what holy scripture means when it says we are “in Christ.” Personally, I think our human understanding , no matter how advanced, has only scratched the surface of the true meaning of this simple phrase – in Christ. Taken in context with Ephesians 4:10, the ramifications are mind-boggling.

What we can say with certainty is the theme discussed above – that of deep intimacy with Christ in the new, vivified cosmic hologram. Through his final act of self-emptying love (Greek kenosis), Christ has filled the entire universe with his character, his being, and his selfless love. We also have been filled with that same character, that same being, that same love. Just as we live in Christ, Christ lives in us. Again, our comprehension of these mysteries is minimal but fortunately, we don’t have to understand it all to reap its benefits. Through faith we partake of this divine hologram, or as Peter tells us, the divine nature.

Our intimacy with Christ remains as deep and as profound as always. Cynthia Bourgeault explains:

…..our whole universe is profoundly permeated with the presence of Christ. He surrounds, fills, holds together from top to bottom this human sphere in which we dwell. The entire cosmos has become his body, so to speak, and the blood flowing through it is his love…..mystical visionaries have tended to claim that this “pan-cosmic” saturation of his being into the deepest marrow of this created world was the cosmic cornerstone turned in his passage through death. Without in any way denying or overriding the conditions of this earth plane, he has interpenetrated them fully, infused them with his own interior spaciousness, and invited us all into the invisible but profoundly coherent energetic field so that we may live as one body – the “Mystical Body of Christ,” as it’s known in Christian tradition – manifesting the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. Jesus in his ascended state is not farther removed from human beings but more intimately connected with them. He is the integral ground, the ambient wholeness within which our contingent human lives are always rooted and from which we are always receiving the help we need to keep moving ahead on the difficult walk we have to walk here. When the eye of our own heart is open and aligned with this field of perception, we recognize whom we’re walking with.

…..to be continued

(c) L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved

When Will You Begin?

Mick Turner

I recently finished reading Robin Meyer’s landmark book, Saving Jesus From the Church. I found this book to be both challenging and insightful, not to mention timely considering the continuing flow of statistics showing the numerical demise of the Christian faith. This steady decrease in both numbers and influence makes Meyer’s book all the more relevant to the times and culture the church now exists in.

 If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you are well aware that I have long believed that our mission as followers of Jesus is to incarnate his proactive love within the parameters of the gifting God has bestowed upon us and within the context where we have been placed. Some months back I penned these words – words I still hold deeply:

“If we take Jesus’ words recorded in the 25^th Chapter of Matthew as true, then it should be obvious to even the most dense among us that the litmus test for defining a Christian is not belief in Christ, but in embodying Christ.”

Meyers discusses this critical time in the church’s history and the potential for something wonderful being birthed out of the pains of the current labor. Utilizing the imagery of Robert Frost, Meyers tells us that:

Those roads that “diverged in a yellow wood” so long ago looked equally fair, but now one is well worn. It is the road of the Fall and redemption, original sin, and the Savior. The other is the road of enlightenment, wisdom, creation-centered spirituality, and a nearly forgotten object of discipleship: transformation. This is the road less traveled. It seeks not to save our souls but to restore them.

In my earlier writings I have alluded to similar themes time and time again. I can also certainly relate to the description of one of those folks sitting in the pews looking for something vital and critical to my spiritual survival but never quite finding it. No matter where I searched, it never quite fit. I was like the proverbial square peg and whether the pew was in a liberal church or a conservative one, I found only round holes. I now suspect there are a lot more people out there like me – sincere spiritual seekers that feel drawn, at times almost against their will, toward the church. I have at last come to understand why this “drawing” (or fatal attraction!) has never let up. It was never supposed to let up. Like Jonah, I had a mission and I still do.

Each of us is called to be part of the healing process for the church. I am not being overly general here. If you are a Christian, then you have the tools and abilities to accomplish this. You have a part to play in helping to restore the Body of Christ to its rightful and needed place in our culture and furthermore, you have been equipped to carry out this divine calling. What is lacking in far too many is the dedication, discipline, and means to do it. Also, keep in mind that when you are true to you calling, things will fall into place.

Remaining on the current road is no longer an option, and this is true in both the fundamentalist/conservative arms of the church and the liberal arm as well. Meyers warns us:

If we do not stop traveling down the road we are on, we will not just destroy the planet and everyone on it but continue to betray the heart of Christianity. Our task now is not just to demythologize Jesus. It is to let the breath of the Galilean sage fall on the neck of the church again. First we have to listen not to formulas of salvation but to a gospel that is all but forgotten. After centuries of being told that “Jesus saves,” the time has come to save Jesus from the church.

If the door is locked, we will break in through the windows. If anyone forbids us to approach the table, we will overturn it and serve communion on the floor. If any priest tells us we cannot sing this new son, we will sing it louder, invite others to sing it with us, and raise our voices in unison across all the boundaries of human contrivance – until this joyful chorus is heard in every corner of the world, and the church itself is raised from the dead.

For me personally, these words issued by Meyers serve as a clarion call to get up, gird up, and get busy going about the work I have been called to do. In my mind and in my heart, there is no doubt about that calling. The question now is not, “What am I to do?” The question, instead, is, “When do I begin?”

© L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved

The Father’s Provision: Precious and Magnificent Promises

L.D. Turner

In a splendid passage tucked away in the second epistle of Peter we find a message of hope and guidance. The power of this passage of scripture is often overlooked, either through superficial reading or lack of reflection on what the leader of the band of apostles was actually trying to tell us. In a few short words, Peter gives us both a description of where our power to live the Christian life comes from and tells us in plain language the virtues stemming from such a life. Let’s take a look:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in world by lust.

 

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

Therefore, brethren, make certain about his calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. For in this way entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. [2 Peter1: 2-11]

 

In the first section of this passage, Peter reminds us that grace and peace in our lives comes through knowledge of God and Christ. Then he makes an amazing statement. He tells us that Christ, through his divine power, has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness. He has already given us all we need to become whole in Christ and live a life of holiness.  All we have to do is, with empty hands and an open heart, reach out and receive it. Further, Peter goes on to tell us that through believing and appropriating the promises made by Christ, we may become partakers of the divine nature.

Do you really realize what this means? Do you see the profound reality that Peter is putting right before our eyes? We, even as limited, fallen, and broken humans, can partake of the nature of God Himself. When I truly reflect on this statement, I tremble in awe.

In the next section, Peter lists for us the virtues that grow out of living from this divine nature. They are:

Diligence

Faith

Moral Excellence

Knowledge

Self-control

Perseverance

Godliness

Brotherly Kindness

Love

 

Even superficial reflection will tell us how much better our lives, and our world, would be if we would but just make these principles and integral part of our daily lives. If we looked to these virtues as the guiding factors in determining how we lived, life would truly be filled with peace and grace.

In the third section, Peter asks us to be honest with ourselves. He asks us to deeply reflect on our calling, the fact that we are the chosen ones of Christ. Do we really want the kind of life Christ is offering us? Are we willing to make the necessary sacrifices? Are we willing to be led and formed into an image of godliness through the power of the Holy Spirit? If we answer in the affirmative, then we can be assured that we will not stumble. Does that mean life will be without problems? Emphatically no. Does that mean we will never have to struggle with our lower nature, the world, or ourselves? Of course not.

What Peter is saying here is that if we live our lives according to the nine virtues he outlines, we will never stumble, and we will never fall. We will ultimately succeed in growing to be more Christ-like in thought, word, and deed.

Let’s take a look at the same passage, this time from Eugene Peterson’s The Message:

 

Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you – your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

 

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you have been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

 

So friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved, and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

I think Peterson’s version drives Peter’s message home in a clear, concise manner. Whichever version you prefer, the point is the same. God, in his infinite grace and wisdom, has already provided everything we now need or ever will need in order to live a godly life. Through the successful mission of Christ, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension, we are not only justified in the sight of a Holy God, we are also empowered to live as new creations, capable of far more than we can ever imagine. We can, indeed, walk in Christ’s victory and operate in this world as more than conquerors; we can truly become everything that God intended for us to be and carry out our mission of being Christ’s agents here on earth; agents in carrying forward the Father’s kingdom agenda.

In the words we often use  here at LifeBrook: God has provided for us all that we need in order to become the optimal versions of ourselves for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

 

As Paul so aptly put it, through the completed work of Christ we have been blessed “in the heavenly realm” and are capable of becoming “living epistles.” This is the true message of the gospel – indeed, good news.

(c) L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved