121021 Walk with Me: Rule v. Rules

When we have not met him in the center of our hearts, we cannot expect to meet him in the busyness of our daily lives. – Henry Nouwen

Eat or starve for God? Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, which was in itself an endorsement of John’s ministry on the part of Jesus. While Jesus was certainly making a statement about his relationship with God, he was also stating that he was falling in line with John’s ministry. John was an ascetic. His whole vibe was that of a spiritual outlier. Jews viewed his attire as a sign of being a prophet akin to Elijah. Romans and Greeks saw him as making a statement along the lines of contemporary stoics. Both assessments put John on the outskirts of society in order to speak critically of the culture apart from which they were distancing themselves. A good Jew in that region of Israel fasted twice a week to help focus attention and prayer toward God. Jesus and his disciples apparently lost that memo, however, because they were criticized by Jewish religious leaders for not adhering to the spiritual discipline of fasting (see Mark 2:18-22). Beneath this question is a bigger question humanity has wondered about from the earliest days: how much prayer and other disciples are we supposed to do to satisfy God so that we stay on his good side (and don’t get wiped out)? What are the rules God wants us to obey?

Sabbath for Humanity or Humanity for the Sabbath? The Jewish world in which Jesus did his ministry was very conscientious about keeping the Sabbath – the day of rest – holy. No other culture or religion up to that time had a weekly day set apart for reconnecting with God and community as did the Jews. To insure that the day was honored, much work was devoted to understanding what could and could not be done on the Sabbath. For instance, you could not reap your crop on a Sabbath, even if you were in the middle of crush in Napa Valley. You would have to relax from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday, and then resume your reaping. This is why Jesus and his disciples got in trouble (see Mark 2:23-28). Jesus and the guys were walking through a field, got hungry, and picked some grain to munch on – the fact that their critics called this reaping is ridiculous, of course, and says much more about the scribes than it does Jesus. Jesus answers their critique with a biblical reference that provides a precedent for their behavior. But the question was raised: how do we “do” the Sabbath as followers of Jesus? Strict observance? Apathy? Serious yet casual? Or somewhere in between? Beneath this question is a bigger one humanity has struggled with from the moment the idea of God became conscious: what rules must we obey to keep God happy (and not wipe us out)? What are the rules God wants us to obey?

Exception to the Rules? Later that day (or another Sabbath), Jesus went to a synagogue where he was invited to teach for the day. While he was teaching, he noticed a man with a withered hand (see Mark 3:1-6). The synagogue was a large room, with people sitting on benches that lined the wall. Jesus called the guy to place himself in the center of the room and asked what most probably thought was a rhetorical question: is the Sabbath a day for doing good or evil, to save or destroy? Nobody felt like talking, so Jesus kept rolling, and asked the guy to stretch out his hand (which he was unable to do because of his condition). The guy did so, and discovered that his hand was completely well. Jesus could have waited until sundown to heal the man, but he chose to do it right then and there, in the middle of the Sabbath day. Naturally, as any of us would, the religious leaders started meeting with political leaders to figure out a way to destroy Jesus… Jesus knew he was stirring the pot this time. He wasn’t being called out for eating some grain. He pushed the issue and raised the question again: what should we or shouldn’t we be doing to keep God happy (and keep ourselves from being wiped off the earth)? What are the rules God wants us to obey?

Rule verses Rules. These three stories, plus the two before it (forgiving and healing the paralyzed man; calling Levi and partying with him and his scummy friends) shifted the way the religious element thought about Jesus. They were increasingly leery from the get-go, and now Jesus brought the fight to them. What was Jesus getting at? Was he simply telling them, and his disciples, and everyone moving forward to forget rules? Would this have been in keeping with his Jewish sensibilities? And if so, why was he still honoring many of the rules?

When I first began my role as a Senior Pastor in northern Illinois, I was talking to the church secretary about what I wanted in the upcoming week’s bulletin: what songs we were going to do, which scriptures would be read, and in what order everything should go. All the way through the conversation she kept saying, “Are you sure? We’ve never done it that way before.” The church had developed an approach to worship that had become highly scripted and predictable. To divert from it was to break a law. While this is not a problem anymore at CrossWalk, many churches wonder what’s okay or not in worship. Coffee in the sanctuary? YouTube videos? Anything funny? Jeans? Theatrics? Rock music? At the core is a question: will this is some way offend God somehow and land us in some holy trouble? What are the rules God wants us to obey regarding worship?

I think there is another way to think that goes way beyond simply keeping God off of our back, or doing/avoiding things to get God to bless us (or at least not kill us). Instead of thinking about rules to keep us out of trouble with God, let’s think of a Rule (or Way) of life that keeps our relationship with God vibrant. A vital relationship with God is what the rules were trying to protect, of course, but we human beings have a hard time remembering that the rules were a means to an end, and not the end in and of themselves.

The Rule of Life. There is a Way of life that Jesus modeled and taught that, when practiced, fully satisfies all the rules and regulations we worry about breaking. It boils down to the two greatest commandments: to love God, and to love others. How we do this is the difference between a rich relationship with God and a religious life based on a bogus contractual agreement with a distant deity. The Way is about learning to live life in constant relationship with God, where we are continually open to God’s presence and prompting. We often allow a lot of clutter to get in the way, distracting us from this hand-in-hand daily walk with God. Do we maintain our status quo, at times, because we are afraid, perhaps, of what we might see in ourselves and God should we draw close to God? In their book on leadership (Leading the Congregation, p 49), Shawchuck and Heuser note the following: Sooner or later we must admit that we tolerate or initiate the clutter in our minds because it keeps us from having to face a reality we dread even more – that of coming home to ourselves. Then we discover that we ourselves cause the clutter in our minds; our own souls are running full force away from the voice bidding us to find rest for our weary souls.

So, how do we live in the Way? Shawchuck and Heuser note three elements of Jesus’ spirituality (Leading the Congregation, 55ff)…

1. Jesus established a rhythm of public ministry and private spaces. Cistercian monk Thomas Keating notes that in those private moments, the Spirit of God comes as a divine archaeologist, and digs down to investigate our whole life history, layer by layer, throwing out the junk and preserving the values that we appropriate to each state of our human development. What you do in those times of solitude may vary – some of us sit and read, others hike, others listen to music, others simply close their eyes and pray – but the point is to make time to do it.

A couple weeks ago I knew I needed to take a prayer hike. So, off I went. As I trudged up the hills, slowly letting go of whatever was on my mind, I started paying more attention to my surroundings. I looked at the trees, the vineyards, the rocks, the grasses, the lizards, the birds, the mountains, and the squirrels and became acutely aware of something: none of them gave a rip about our economy, politics, keeping up with the Jones’, etc. Later that week I spent my wife’s birthday with her at Dillon Beach – a rare, perfect, warm, sunny day with no coastal marine layer of clouds, wind, or fog. The sea lion just offshore, the waves, the seagulls, the sand, the kelp – none of them seemed to care about politics, the economy, or acquiring stuff, either. God used these two moments to give me perspective, and to remind me of my (our) capacity to become consumed by many things, to the point that we let our relationship with God go unattended. Without taking time out, I am confident I would have missed what God was trying to speak into my life. Jesus made sure he had private space in his life to be alone. It was those alone times that gave him the poise, clarity, and strength to carry out his ministry – his public life. Your public life is ministry, too, and depends on the private life for its sustenance. Jesus was a healer, an exorcist, a wisdom teacher, a justice champion, and a movement leader – none of which would have been carried out with great success apart from the time he spent alone with God.

2. Jesus surrounded himself with an intimate covenant community. This inner circle got to know Jesus more deeply than anyone else. They were close enough to him to know when he was tired, didn’t feel well, or was anxious. They knew his eyes, and knew when they were about to get in trouble with the scribes and Pharisees. It was in that community that life was shared most deeply. This does not happen by accident, but requires time and trust. It takes time to discover who we jibe with. It takes time to develop trust. Trust will be broken at some point, on some level. It will take time to heal and trust again. But community is where we experience love and life on a very rich level. It won’t happen all by itself. We have to take the leap, put it in the calendar, risk some awkwardness. Jesus modeled it as part of the Way of life. To not pursue it – even if it’s tough – is to set ourselves up for a very limited experience of God, and of life.

3. Jesus included meaningful ritual in his life. He designated time for prayer. He went to church (synagogue) regularly, he studied the Bible, he had great spiritual conversations with people, and made worship an ongoing part of his life. He did not view these things as demands – that if he didn’t do them, he would be in trouble with God. He viewed them as sources of the Spirit – life-giving practices where he could reconnect with God. He practiced the disciplines with the expectation that God would meet him there. It wasn’t about what he conjured up – it was about making himself available so that God could speak, heal, restore, and lead. It did not just happen – Jesus put it in his calendar.

I wonder if we tend to let routine become just that – routine. Take worship, for instance. When we come to worship together on Sunday morning, do we come expecting to meet with God in a way that cannot be experienced in the same way when alone? Do we really expect God to be present? Do we come hungry for more God in our lives? What might happen if we moved away from thinking of these activities as just activities, and looked to them as sources of the Spirit? How would our mindset change if we looked at church attendance, Bible study,and spiritual dialogue as Spirit fonts available for our renewal?

I am so busy that unless I pray more hours every day I won’t get my work done. – Martin Luther

The Reformer John Wesley was known for keeping a discipline every morning beginning around 4:30 am. Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone; – Only God is here, in his presence I open, I read his book; for this end, to find the way to heaven. A colleague of his complained to him that there wasn’t enough time for prayer and reflection, to which Wesley replied, O begin! Fix some time each day for prayer and reflection. Do it; whether you like it or not. It is for your life! Else you will be a trifler all your days.

Prayer of Examen. John Wesley knew that if he wasn’t intentional about his life, it would get tossed around liked a row boat on the open sea. In order to stay on track with God, Wesley practiced and encouraged others to engage in the Prayer of Examen in the morning and evening. In just fifteen minutes in the morning, he would look over the day he was about to encounter, and ask himself key questions to help him be more open to the Spirit’s work at every moment. For fifteen minutes in the evening, he would ask himself key questions to review the day he just lived, in order to learn where he struggled and triumphed, so that the next day he would grow more into the Spirit-driven person he was called to be. His goal was not perfection. His goal was intimacy with God in every moment, so that he was constantly tied to the Source, in step with God to be used as needed for God’s redemptive work of healing, cleaning out unclean spirits, standing with those who suffer injustice for justice, bringing wisdom, and calling others to be part of what God is trying to do in the world. Do you think you can carve out fifteen minutes in the morning, and another fifteen minutes in the evening for this practice? The following questions were ones that John Wesley used every day, modified a little for contemporization. Ask yourself the questions in the morning. Review how you did in the evening. Below the questions, please enjoy the “Soul of Christ” prayer – does it resonate with you as it did me?

Wesley’s Questions of Examen

1. With what degree of attention and passion am I praying today?
2. How will my actions today reflect the goodness of God?
3. What does my day hold for me, and what attitudes and actions are God inviting me to choose?
4. What good can I do today? Will I pursue the good with passion and joy?
5. How will I show genuine interest in others today?
6. How will I be open to hearing words that will help me grow as a person? How will I offer words that will help others grow?
7. How will I avoid speaking of a fault or failing of another person for no redemptive reason?
8. How will I avoid grieving anyone by what I say or do?
9. How will I be good news today?

The Prayer “Soul of Christ” by Joseph Tetlow, S.J.

I choose to breathe the Breath of Christ that makes all life holy.

I choose to live the flesh of Christ that outlasts sin’s corrosion and decay.

I choose the Blood of Christ along my veins and in my heart that dizzies me with joy.

I choose the living waters flowing from his side to wash clean my own self and the world itself.

I choose the awful agony of Christ to change my senseless sorrows with meaning and to make my pain pregnant with power.

I choose You, good Jesus, You know.

I choose You, Good Lord; count me among the victories that You have won in bitter woundedness.

Never count me among those alien to You.

Make me safe from all that seeks to destroy me.

Summon me when I come to You.

Stand me sold among angels and saints chanting yes to all You have done, exulting in all You mean to do forever and ever.

Then for this time, Father of all, keep me, from the core of my self, choosing Christ in the world.

Amen.