Category: Faith

Listen and Testify

“For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

Jesus testifies to the truth, and those who are committed to the truth listen to what he says. But before Jesus testifies to the truth, he listens to the truth: “I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.” (John 8:28) So Jesus listens and then speaks.

And Jesus is our example for listening and speaking. He is our model for what it means to be truly human as God created us to be. We, like Jesus, are to listen to “the Father.” We are to live from the source of our being. And then we are to testify to what we receive. In a world of lies and deceit, we are to testify to the truth.

Of course, that means that we have to turn from lies and deceit to the truth. Above all, we have to turn from the fundamental lie of our human condition, the lie that denies our creatureliness, that would have us operate as if we were the source of our existence—as if we could come up with our identity apart from God.

Jesus calls us back to reality, to the source of our true selves that is never far away. God is near and the word of truth is near. It is, as Saint Paul reminds us, on our lips and in our hearts, when lips and hearts are surrendered to God, when we worship in spirit and in truth and are open to the Spirit of truth. And “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13) The Spirit guides us into who we are to be and what we are to do.

In a world that is deceived about our essential selves and callings, we are sent to be witnesses. We are to testify to what we hear, we who are growing into listeners of the truth. In this way, we are light in the darkness. It is a high calling, being listeners and testifiers to the truth. It is a calling we receive in Christ. As we are conformed to the one who is the Listener and Testifier, we become listeners and testifiers.

Our world, our society, needs those who receive and declare truth, the truth of being human and being community—the truth that demands the commitment of our whole selves, the commitment to love and have compassion for one another, to live as one humanity in God, sharing in all of creation’s oneness with God.

Our societies and the world need the witness of those who receive the Spirit’s guidance for the situations of our time and for the unfolding future, people who hear what the Spirit is declaring in the present. The world needs to hear something other than that which comes from the political and moral ideologies of our time or from the entrenched ways of a false humanity that operates as if it were its own source of being.

Gracious God, give us eyes to see and ears to hear. And then give us the courage to speak and to act in this time in which we live.

Filed under: Faith, Prayer, Spirit, Truth, WitnessTagged with: , ,

Walking by Faith Through the Storm

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:37-40)

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. I count this as the first miracle in the story. The second is the calming of the storm.

We relate to this story because we all experience storms. They take many forms: natural catastrophes, breakdowns of one kind or another, the inhumanity of human beings toward each other (our sin that dehumanizes us and the sins of others that hurt us). Whether our storms come from within or without, they create disturbance and fear and test our faith in God. They occasion the question, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

Fear tempts us to trust in ourselves rather than God. Anxiety creates an urgency to take things into our own hands as if there is no time to wait on God and discern next steps. Faith, on the other hand, will have us at peace in the midst of the storm—even in the midst of a societal breakdown. It will, therefore, free us to act in life-giving ways.

Faith in God enabled Jesus to sleep as the storm raged, and also enabled him to calm the storm. It is by faith that we realize God’s presence and power. I have the impression that when Jesus, after calming the storm, said to his disciples, “Have you still no faith?” he was implying that if they had believed, they would have calmed the storm themselves rather than wake him up. After all, he said, elsewhere, that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed, they could move mountains.

Jesus calls us to desire after God and to draw near to God that we might increasingly live from God. We are encouraged that a very little faith—a mustard seed size—will take us a long way in facing and engaging the disorder of our time. By faith, we find that we can walk through storms, and receive, learn and grow. The storms will come, and some will be long-lasting, but, by resting in God, we will rest in the storm. And, at times, be given the power to calm the storm.

Filed under: Faith, Fear, Peace, SpiritualityTagged with: , ,

Evangelical Support for Trump and Following Jesus

Eighty percent of white evangelicals support Trump. Why? An evangelical faith adviser to Trump says the number one reason is “religious liberty.” The issue of abortion is number two.

Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, in a PBS News Hour interview, explains:

“Evangelicals experienced or felt that, in the past number of years, the past 10 years, issues of religious liberty, issues of advancing their Judeo-Christian value systems stood…threatened. Sisters of the Poor, Hobby Lobby, Supreme Court cases that to evangelicals infringed their ability to advance the Gospel of Jesus. So, all of a sudden, we have President Donald Trump, and the public policy initiatives as it pertains to faith is much more favorable to the evangelical community indeed.”

Christianity, as a religion, has had a privileged place in American society, from having chaplains for the House of Representatives to special tax breaks for clergy. Above all, Christians, along with other religions, have been legally free to worship and free to share their message with others. They must proclaim their message, however, in the midst of many other competing messages and at times in hostile environments. That is to be expected.

But compare that to the experience of Christians in the second century, when Justin Martyr pleaded with the Roman emperor, that Christians be judged justly, not merely because they went by the name Christian. Justin was addressing a situation where going by the name of Christ brought on persecution and even death. Justin himself was martyred. The issue was life and death. Even so, Christians continued to share the gospel and to serve. They had learned that they could do all things through the One who strengthened them and could proclaim the gospel in all circumstances. (Paul, in one of his imprisonments, writes that everyone guarding him was hearing the gospel.)

So, what is this concern for religious liberty on the part of “evangelicals” today? What more, in the way of liberty, is being expected from a highly secularized or “pagan” society? Apparently, the expectation is for a government that will make advancing our “Judeo-Christian value systems” less threatened, by carving out special laws that make room for our ability to take stands according to our peculiar consciences without any loss or discomfort.

I suspect that Pastor Rodriguez represents the evangelical community with some accuracy when he says that the number one white evangelical reason for voting for Trump is “public policy initiatives” that are “much more favorable to the evangelical community.” I also suspect that there are other underlying and hidden reasons. Trump’s appeal to racist and anti-immigrant attitudes is a significant factor, as it is in the general white populous. But the ostensible admission that “public policy initiatives” favorable to the evangelical community is the number one reason for continued support of Trump is surprising, given that it comes from those who say they are followers of Jesus who said, “those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”[Matthew 16:25]

Jesus’ followers, rather than securing their positions, are called to lose their lives in order to serve. From a place of humility, we are empowered to do what Jesus did: Declare God’s reign which manifests itself in compassion for those who are “harassed like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus went to those who carried heavy burdens in order to liberate them, and he spoke against those in power who added to their burdens. Jesus ate with sinners, welcomed the outcast, healed the sick and brought good news to the poor. Jesus’ focus was not on obtaining and holding on to a place of privilege. He “didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.”[Mark 10:45]

It would seem that those who go by the name of Christ, who experience God’s governance, would make their number one issue when voting for a leader, the care and uplift of others, especially the “least among us.” It would not be about themselves and gaining or holding on to a privileged position. It would be about the refugee, the hungry, the poor, the oppressed, the imprisoned, the life of the born as well as the unborn. It would seek leaders with some measure of compassion. When Christianity is true to its roots in Christ, it serves others, giving its life for others. It forgets itself and focuses on others, serving them with the good news in word and deed.

Filed under: Faith, Justice, Serving, WitnessTagged with: ,

Holy Communion From Below

On Maundy Thursday, our church—St. James Community Church—celebrated the last meal of Jesus with his disciples among the homeless camped in the lower reaches of the city. We went three levels down from the main level of streets of downtown Chicago to what is sometimes called Lower Lower Wacker Drive, a concrete environment, dark, dirty and distant from the lively streets above. It was there that we joined those who had made for themselves beds of blankets, a few with tents, along with various other items of survival. We brought hot meals, personal hygiene kits, and blankets—and the Eucharist.

Our pastor, William Hall, by bringing us to this place, made the connection between the night when Jesus was betrayed and the experience of those who are homeless—many of whom suffer with addictions and/or mental illness, and are forgotten and discarded by the society above. In the night on which Jesus was betrayed, we joined with those who have been betrayed by our society and often by the church.

After his last meal, Jesus went to a place of prayer and brought with him Peter, James, and John and said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” (Matthew 26:38) Jesus still calls us to come and remain with him and to stay awake with him. So, where do we find Jesus grieving today? Where are we to remain and stay awake?

For us, at St. James, we found a place on Maundy Thursday where Jesus grieves, three levels down, distant from the lives of most of us. Our ministry to those who were homeless was at the same time—and, even more so, a ministry to our community of faith. We experienced the ministry of Jesus in our lives, as we came out of our places of comfort to a place of discomfort where Christ was present.

We offered Holy Communion to those who desired. Some embraced it as something they had long been without. Some joined us for prayer and asked for our prayers: “Pray for my deliverance from this addiction.” We saw hope in that place, the hope that is a response to being loved in some tangible way. There was community and God’s presence.

We do not have a ministry focused on the homeless at St. James. There are such ministries. And there are also justice ministries that work for societal change in relation to the homeless. What we had, on Thursday of Holy Week, was an act of serving that connected us with hurting people on the fringes of our society. We experienced Jesus leading us to deny ourselves (of what we could be doing instead), take up our cross (in the form of entering the suffering of others), and share in a holy communion from below.

Filed under: Faith, Serving, Witness

Hope In God

There are times in our lives when we become focused on what truly matters. We gain clarity. We realize that the One we have no control over bears us up. The One who cannot be penned in by our thoughts gives us thoughts and direction and identity.

When that happens, we know it is grace. It is a gift.

Sometimes it happens in the midst of breakdown and low feelings. We have been fighting a battle and losing. We simply do not have it together. We are poor in spirit. Our soul is cast down. And we are anxious about the state we are in. Yet we have moved closer to the reality we need. Our cast down condition is simply our longing for what truly matters, our longing for God.

In the words of Psalm 42:

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

The psalmist asks why his soul is cast down:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

The being-cast-down is our soul knowing it can no longer live off what we have been feeding it. So the thing to do is not to fill that longing with more noise, turning up the volume of our lives, turning to more social media, buying another thing we do not need, finding another relationship—maybe ending the one we have now. Our soul longs for life and is being starved.

We must say to our soul, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.”

In the midst of the numerous voices telling us what to do about our condition, how to solve the problem that is us, how to make things right, how to gain control, we must turn to hope in God. In the midst of the turmoil of voices in our body politic, in the midst of voices of anger, fearful voices; in the midst of voices of racism and fear of the other, of the refugee; in the midst of voices of greed and arrogance and war talk, we must hope in God, listening again for the “still small voice.” Otherwise, these voices, finding a hook in our fears and prejudices and controlling ways, will lead us into the darkness. Or we will react to these voices with fear and anger, without taking the action that brings light and change.

Turn from these other voices and claims upon our lives; wait and listen. Hope in God, for we shall again praise him, our help and our God.

“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.”

Filed under: Faith, Prayer

Witness From Silence

We live in a time where there are mass migrations because of war, economic breakdown, and famine. Globally and in this nation, there has been growing economic inequality. Racism has been virulent and violent. Anti-immigrant sentiment has grown at a time when the needs of refugees have become desperate. Those who Scripture calls “children of light” must give witness in this global darkness. So, what makes that witness possible?

When we feel the darkness gathering around us, do as the prophet, Zephaniah, tells us, “Be silent before the Lord God.” When we experience the breakdown in our society, the incivility, the hate and anger, the hurt, be silent before the Lord God. When we experience these things in ourselves, the hurt and sin, the racism, the stinginess, the indifference to the pain of others and the ignoring of the plight of future generations, be silent before the Lord God.

We often have so very much to say. We carry within us, ways of thinking that are rationales for our hidden prejudices, disoriented desires and values, ways of judging others and ideologies formed from selves constructed from a false center. And we speak and act out of that which is within. So the word to us is: “Be silent before the Lord God.”

Before we can be light in the darkness, we have to be still and listen. We have to listen and be changed by what we hear. We have to attend to what is going on within us.

“Be silent before the Lord GOD!” In silence before God, we get in touch with ourselves. Before God, no longer talking, no longer explaining ourselves, we acknowledge our own brokenness, our own false selves. We acknowledge our need. We desperately need God. Only as we live from our source will we truly do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.

In silence before God, we acknowledge that God can do for us what we have been unable to do for ourselves: Liberate us to have compassion and love for others, other others (those very different from ourselves, including those whose ideologies are repugnant to us). Deliver us from people-pleasing ways, so that we speak the truth in love. Free us from fear, so that we speak truth to those in power.

In this present darkness, we must be silent before the Lord God and awake to what is happening around us, so that we might have something to say. Let God reveal to us ourselves and reveal to us the work and witness God calls and empowers us to do. This orientation to the source of our lives does not exclude gaining an understanding of the context and time in which we live but provides spiritual roots to our knowledge.

In the early hours of the morning, or if we are night people, in the late hours, do as Jesus did, take time to pray. Pray out not only our own needs but listen for the still small voice. Reach out for God’s will. Wait on God to speak. In the quietness, surrender our wills to God’s will. Pray, “Your will be done,” and wait. Be awake to hear from God, to be prompted by the Spirit of God. Let God enlighten the eyes of our hearts and give us discernment. Let the Spirit pour out God’s love into our hearts.

Go walk in the woods or along a lake or among the hills and be open and aware, awake to the ways God speaks through God’s creation, speaks without words, through the beauty and delicateness and power. Let God release us from the troubles of our hearts and free us for the action God has prepared for us. God intends for us to be lights in the darkness.

The children of light live from the Light. As children of the day, bear witness in the present darkness. Silent, open, and listening, we become witnesses to what we receive. From silence and listening, justice and mercy pour forth.

Filed under: Faith, Prayer, Witness