Reviewing a chapter of my study on Ignatius Loyola and John Wesley last night, I was reminded that both men had a dual focus - the development of personal Christian spirituality and an encouragement to participate in the fellowship, liturgy and ritual of the church. 

And so I am reminded that the significance of "the church" lies in its capacity to support people in discipleship to Jesus.  Any activity that does not have that as its fundamental purpose must be examined.  This means that the church has to focus on teaching about who Jesus is, on providing guidance about how to grow in relationship with Jesus, on encouraging people to share experiences of Jesus' presence, on celebrating the blessings that come from God's loving hand, on serving the wider community in Jesus' name, on inviting others to learn about Jesus' way.   When its activities fail to do these things, the church will be rightly criticised as being simply another organisation where people gather for mutual admiration.

Let the church focus its activities on calling people to become followers Jesus and providing for Jesus-followers to be better equipped to share the story of his involvement in their lives.

Solitude

A month has passed since I last came here. 

Why should it be so long?

There's a yearning for muse,
but too many thoughts
leads to shallow thought
as too much activity
makes all activity
haphazard.

Oh to find again the solitude
that lets the mind join the heart
join the soul
and makes me free to ponder the things of God
who longs for me, and us,
to enjoy the delight of grasping an insight
before it dispels.

Intuitive response

Thanks to the comment on http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/weekly_wellsprings/year_c/sunday_28.htm about the Samaritan leper who was healed by Jesus (Luke 17:11-19).
But one cannot simply go to the priests to be allowed back - he is  a Samaritan and would only meet with contempt from any Jewish priest. Unable to take the route laid before the others, he returns to the One who healed him and praises God for the great thing that has been done for him.

Here is an intuitive response to Jesus' ministry.  When our circumstances are such as preclude us from attending at church, what then?  Jesus is still available - even if not within the religious culture.  The same outcome that is assumed for the 9 lepers - that they would re-enter by the blessing of the priests the community they were barred from - is available to this one.  Jesus has made him whole, and he longs for recognition; Jesus has restored his dignity, and he can celebrate life.  But not in a religious form that is foreign to him - rather in a development of personal relationship with the One who has set him free.

The present-day church, then, has to learn once more that its structures are not able to relate to all who desire nurture for and celebration of their the relationship people have with Jesus.  It may do so in 9 cases out of 10.  But not always.  Even since Jesus' time, there has been one who does not fit the mould.  And for that one, Jesus was available.

Now, however, comes the interesting questions: Who stands in the place of Christ in today's world?  It has been declared that the church (in which the Word of God is truly proclaimed and the sacraments rightly administered) was the presence of Christ in the world.  But while it retains its exclusive culture (as the Jewish priests did), how can it fulfil Jesus' ministry to the ones who are excluded?

Growing

I am awed by the insight in Mark 4:26-33 as it's identified in Brennan Manning's Souvenirs of Solitude (p71).  How is it that I had not seen so obvious a truth?  That it is God who makes the seed grow, it is God who does the work!  Can it be that I have been so inculcated with the heritage of protestantism (called "the work ethic") that even the Scriptures have been veiled?  Well, of course! That's the way it happens.

So God, through Brennan, breaks through again, and I am recalled to the truth.  And Brennan goes deep, suggesting that it's not "Work as if everything depended on you and pray as if everything depended on God" but "Work as if everything depended on God and pray as if everything depended on you".  This second is much more appropriate, because it is much more challenging.  (And it fits with the comment in Stanley Grenz' Prayer: the Cry for the Kingdom, that "God has voluntarily made himself dependent upon our prayers." p51)

I had the opportunity today to share with someone about growing in Christian discipleship.  We reflected on the story of the seed growing silently, and she grasped as a gift of God that her commitment to following Jesus is nothing less than being open to what God would have her do and be.  There is no need for us to strain ourselves into fit some super program, but simply allowing ourselves to be planted in the ground, there to grow as God would make it happen.

Not my love, but Yours; not my will, but Yours; not my work, but Yours.

Names

Just read the comments on http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2010/09/pamela-hartigan-wants-to-dump-the-word-social-entrepreneur.html#comment-6a00d8341c5bb353ef013487d9e043970c and some of the responses.
The issue seems to be that names exclude people. That's fine with me. I don't want anyone else to be "Graham Vawser".  (I don't think my wife does either!)
And on the other hand I can't see that there's any way of encouraging people to consider changing from their long held positions if they don't see a hope of finding themselves in a place they've not been before - a better place.  Why move when there's nothing to be gained from it?
I've lived in the comfortable place, unaware of what was happening in other places.  It's much more exciting and challenging to discover that there are people doing things I'm not part of.  It makes me decide whether I want to continue to be out of it (=excluded) or learn new things to come in to the new place.
And so I want people to be able to see that there are some things that they're missing out on.  I'll keep naming these things, and explaining them, and showing the sign posts, and providing the maps, so that others will come in.

steadfast

"Remaining steadfast may mean ... persevering until what we had hoped to achieve begins to come into view." (Ringma, Reflection 91)
It's an interesting thought that we should not necessarily wait for the fulfilment of what we hope for.  It is enough to begin to see it.  The fulfilment is always in the hands of God.  If we plan to stay until everything is complete, we risk taking full responsibility for it ourselves instead of leaving it to God's care.  God charges us with the task of planting seeds - that's all!  The rest of the work - growing the seed to harvest - is God's work, not mine or yours.  Sometimes God will grant the privilege for us to see the fulfilment, but I must not assume it or expect it.
This is the joy in 1 Corinthinan 15:35-58.  We can "be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because we know that [whatever work we do] in the Lord our labour is not in vain."

Hope

Two ideas come together - a comment by Henri Nouwen in Charles Ringma's devotional Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen about human need to know the heart of God 'that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal' (Reflection 90), and Timothy Keller's comments about sin in his book The Reason for God that 'the Christian doctrine of sin is a source of human hope' (p161). 

Hope comes when we see possibilities of acceptance and affirmation despite the (sometimes very obvious) flaws in our lives and our living.  As Keller points out, the reality of our mistakes, failures and offenses leads us to a dismal view of our own existence and of the world's circumstances.  But when we experience the love of God, who loves us before we every deserve it or understand it, we can begin to realise that the fullness of life is not dependent on how well or poorly we perform, but on our acceptance of the truth that we are loved by God unconditionally.

And of course our lives change, and the world is changed as we try to be more the way God would have us be.

When God gives a gift for service ...

It is a matter of deepest sadness that the need to have the church's work done well can preclude a person from using the gifts that God has given.

Divine guidance

When I saw that God said, "I will lead the blind by a road they do not know" (Isaiah 42:16) I thought itsounded a bit harsh.  Surely it would be kinder to lead those of us who are having trouble seeing the way ahead by a path that we have travelled before. 
But then - if we only went where we've been, how would we ever see the wonderful new things that God knows about?
And now I am excited to know that when we allow ourselves to be led by God, it is always with the promise that "I will guide them, I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them."