jerrymorgan

In Jon Meacham’s little book, “The Hope of Glory”, he seems to ask lots of questions, maybe give an array of possible multiple choice answers, yet not necessarily give us the right answer. He seems to say “there is much we cannot know and that is ok.”

Ultimately, one must decide to believe. To put their hope in something, someone, or some story and to do so without certainty, without total or complete reason or logic; ultimately, without knowing.

Might this be faith?

One chooses to believe. The writer of Hebrews said, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” But what if I am not always so sure of what I hope for and somewhat uncertain of what I do not see? Is that ok? Is that still faith?

Maybe in those times, I pray the prayer of the father with the demon possessed son, “I believe, help my unbelief.”

I write this on this first Sunday of the new year (2022). In a few hours, I will gather with other followers of the Christ to worship and to take communion. As I do, my prayer is for awareness and for faith. In so partaking, I proclaim Jesus again and I do it in the community of all believers over the centuries past, the present and those yet to come; all as best they can.

In that proclamation, we have unity and faith, mixed with doubt. Maybe, that’s the reality of the Faith.

Live loved.

I pray that 2022 brings you –

Joy that brings exuberance and life into all your days even those of significant sorrow;

Meaningful experiences that move you to avoid mindless wandering;

Good health and in those times in which health might be a struggle, may you find comfort and healing;

An end to this pandemic – it has claimed more than enough;

All the things you need;

Maybe a bit of what you want, but not enough to cause you harm;

Something of your deepest and truest desires;

Deep connection to God and to others; and

That the Kingdom of Heaven advances more on this good earth as it is in heaven.

Happy 2022 and Live Loved.

More on reading the Bible as a portal to relationship with Jesus. Consider these thoughts again from Chris Webb’s “The Fire of the Word” —

“The basic method of the Exercises is very simple. Ignatius would encourage people to begin by paying attention to every detail of a Gospel story: the setting, the people involved, gestures and words, the time of day or year. He would teach them to use their imagination to recreate the scene in their minds, making it as present to the senses as possible – if you were there, what would you see? What might you hear? What fragrances drift through the air? Is it warm or cold, wet or dry? Who is gathered around you? What are they doing? Where is Jesus in this story, what is he doing, and how are others reacting? We might imagine a director preparing to shoot a scene for a movie…. Then … he would encourage people to insert themselves into the scene. Don’t just watch, participate. Can you imagine yourself as a disciple or a person in the crowd?…What is it then like, experiencing these unfolding events?”

Ignatius would then encourage a conclusion of this time in the text with a spiritual conversation allowing the meditation and conversation to blend together in the context of the imaginative engagement with the Gospel story.

Webb summarizes with these suggestions:

• Imagine the scene as clearly and vividly as you can. Involve all your senses; imagine sounds, smells, even taste and touch.
• Allow yourself to be drawn into the scene as you imagine it. Place yourself in the shoes of one of the characters – a member of the crowd, an onlooker, a disciple, a questioner or a sick person lying before Christ.
• Allow the events of the narrative to run through your mind and pay attention to the details of what people say and do.
• Pay attention to your reactions. What feelings are stirred up as you experience this Gospel story? How do you want to respond to Jesus’ questions and challenges?
• At some point(whether in the midst of the story or at the end) allow your reactions to become the starting point of a conversation with Christ. Speak “as one friend speaks to another.” Listen carefully and attentively for his response, trusting that Christ truly longs to speak with you.

Remember this is not a set of rules. This is art. This is relationship. So, if this is helpful, great. If not, practice in other ways.

And always, live loved.

So, how do we read and use the Bible in a way that it is this portal that connects us to Christ?

First of all, this is not a trick, but a process. So often, when I talk to people about how they read the Bible or how they pray, they say, “I tried that, but it didn’t work for me.” While that may be the ultimate truth for you, I want to remind you that this is like anything else, it takes practice, not just trying.

If you child is taking up baseball or softball and the first practice or game she tries to hit the ball and fails, do you immediately give up and say, well she tried. Probably not. You would probably decide that she needs practice.

Major league baseball players didn’t just walk up to the plate for the first time and hit a 98 mph fastball out of the park. No, it took years of practice.

For some reason, we don’t look at the spiritual disciplines that way. So, let’s change that. Let’s practice and see what happens.

Secondly, I would encourage you to start with reading one of the gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. This practice of reading the Bible as a portal to a relationship with Jesus will be possible with any of the sacred text in time, but it is a lot easier with one of the gospels.

Again, kind of like baseball, don’t start by trying to hit a 91 mph slider. It would probably be impossible. In fact, most of our kids start with “T-ball.” The gospels help “T it up” for us.

Thirdly, I would recommend that you journal your thoughts while you read. Again, I have heard from many folks, “I have tried journaling, but it doesn’t work for me.” Maybe that will be true, but don’t just try it, practice it for awhile and see what happens.

Fourth, I like to begin with a simple prayer – “Father God, Brother Jesus, please speak to me through this text.” By this simple prayer, you are inviting God to speak to you in and through the text. You are seeking him. Scripture promises that if you seek him, you will find him (one of many wonderful promises for those who seek him).

Next, read a short text, a short story or scene from one of the gospels. Journal what you are thinking. Write down you thoughts and questions. Write down any answers that you think of to your questions. Maybe read it again and write again your thoughts, questions, answers.

Listen. As you read, after you read, while you are sitting and pondering, listen. Then listen some more.

This will be hard, especially at first, because we don’t listen well. We don’t listen well to each other and we certainly don’t listen well for the “still small voice” or “gentle whisper” of God.

Again, this will take practice. His voice is not one that we have trained ourselves to hear. But that can change.

Most of us struggle with even having the time to practice this. We will have to intentionally create space in our lives to do as Brother Lawrence described as “practicing the presence of God.” But even this will evolve as we grow in this. To begin with, you may only be able to find 15 minutes for this. But don’t be surprised if that 15 minutes grows into 30 and you can’t believe it.

More on this later, but for now, just begin and as you do practice this, remember God is for you. He is waiting for you to engage with him. Just like in the beginning, he is walking into the imperfect, busy, hectic, messy garden of your life, asking “where are you.”

Live loved.

Let’s begin with reading the Bible. Most of us have heard all our lives that we need to read the Bible. Most of us even feel we need to read the Bible more. We probably do. But why? And how?

How we read the Bible will be determined by how we view the Bible.

It seems to me that most Christians don’t view the Bible well and so they don’t read it well.

Jesus said to some very serious Bible students of his day that “you diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

The Bible’s sole purpose is to point us to Jesus.

Unfortunately, many have fallen in love with the pointer and not the one the pointer points us to.

In his wonderful and transforming book, “The Fire of the Word”, Chris Webb writes –

“The Bible is not a theological textbook, a philosophical treatise or the answer book to life’s questions. It is a thin place through which the presence of God breaks into this world and bursts with unpredictable consequences into our lives. Even though it is not consumed, this book burns with unquenchable fire.”

Webb writes about an alternative way to read the Bible –

“…the way of the lover. A lover does not seek to master the Bible but rather to be seduced by it. True lovers do not despise academic study of Scripture; after all, who would not want to discover secrets that help them know their beloved more intimately? No, good scholarship is precious to the lover. But for the lover, study can never be an end in itself; rather than rejecting study, a lover seeks to go beyond it. When we read the Bible as lovers, we are not aiming simply to understand Scripture, to interpret it, to draw form it a coherent framework of teachings and truths that help make God, life and creation comprehensible. We do not come primarily seeking moral and ethical principles, theological insights, or even practical life applications. We come to be kissed by Christ.”

For me, the Bible is a portal through which I mysteriously connect with Christ. Through that connection I begin to hear his voice, conversation happens, hearts are touched and relationship is nurtured.

More on how this happens later.

Live loved.

If “followship” is based on a relationship, then how does this relationship work? How do we nurture a relationship with Jesus?

This brings us to an important discussion about the “disciplines.”

The Christian disciplines (i.e. prayer, Bible study, worship, contemplation, rest, service, giving) are critical to this relationship. However, so often we make these life giving connections a legalistic list of things that we have to do. That will never bring relationship, but rather guilt and an end to anything close to the “followship” we were created for and our maker so deeply desires for us.

So it’s critically important that we explore these to see how they can be practiced in a way that contributes to the relationship that our hearts desire and need.

I kind of hate to even use the word “practiced.” But I think we will find that each of these involves a process that begins with practice and, hopefully, moves to experiences through which a relationship with the one who created us thrives.

So next blog, we will start with reading the Bible.

Live loved.

Richard Rohr wrote. “We cannot deeply know ourselves without also knowing the One who made us.”

We all have friends who were adopted. They have been loved and accepted and cared for well by their adopted parents. Yet, there is still this deep desire to know their biological parents and families. It is not a rejection of their adopted families, but a common yearning to deeply know and understand themselves by knowing the ones who made them biologically.

This is also true of each one of us spiritually. And we will only begin to know ourselves as we more deeply begin to know our Creator.

As I mentioned in my last blog, followship is about a relationship – a relationship in which we begin to know our Maker who already knows each of us intimately.

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.” Psalms 139:1.

He knows you deeply and is just waiting for you to come follow him and know him. And when you do you will learn more about yourself than you could ever imagine.

You are made in His image. We all are. Therefore, our identity is in Him. We will only begin to understand that identity as we know Him.

Then, and only then, will we will begin to gain insights into the deep questions of our hearts. Questions like-

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Where am I going?

How am I supposed to live this life.

What’s really important?

What are the questions of your heart?

Following Jesus offers a relationship in which you are safe to explore those deep and noble inquiries.

Live loved.

Followship is not about a group of robotic humans programmed to behave in a certain way. Nor is it about a religious system of rules to follow to be a part of the club.

Followship starts with a relationship with the one we follow. That is what God always wanted and always will.

The foundation of that relationship is not based on you or anything that you have or could do. This relationship is based on God’s deep love for you.

Many times when I have reminded folks that God loves them, they respond acknowledging that, but with a feeling of “I know God loves me because he has to, he is God.” This exposes a common feeling that God loves me, but doesn’t really like me.

We understand that feeling. Each of us have probably experienced times when we loved our children, but we really didn’t like them right then.

But that is how we love. God’s love is beyond what we can even imagine.

So, hear this clearly — not only does God love you, God likes you.

Wayne Jacobson wrote – “He does love you more deeply than you’ve ever imagined; he has done so throughout your entire life. Once you embrace that truth, your troubles will never again drive you to question God’s affection for you or whether you’ve done enough to merit it. Instead of fearing he has turned his back on you, you will be able to trust his love at the moments you need him most. You will even see how that love can flow out of you in the strangest ways to touch a world starved for it.”

The relationship God wants with you can’t be based on fear, or merit, or rules or religion. It can only exist by living in his affection for you.

Live loved.

I could call this series discipleship, but I kind of hate to use that word. Many immediately retract from that word. I think it is a good word, but like so many good words, it has had some bad things attached to it. As a result, there are too many hurdles to get over to get to the good of that word.

I began this whole discussion several posts ago, with the quote from Richard Rohr that “Jesus said follow me and never once said worship me.”

If Jesus called us to follow him (and he did), then let’s use a word (actually not a word yet in Webster’s) that focus on the concept of following Jesus. So let’s use the word “followship” to entitle our exploration.

I hope that you are not so much a stickler for vocabulary that it bothers that we are using a word that doesn’t exist, quite yet. Maybe our exploration will help that process along. Besides, no word ever existed until someone created it. Let’s create it and maybe we can even create something “tov” (that’s Hebrew for “good”, like in Genesis 1).

Because it is a new word, then we can really define it and give it meaning without the hurdles of misguided meanings attached to it.

So “followship” it is.

Now, to the exploration. What might that mean? What do we want to mean by it? What do we not mean by it? What does the word entail and what does it not entail?

This just might be kind of fun.

Live loved.

So with all that I have said the last three posts, do we give up gathering together due to these abuses – absolutely not!

People need community. Covid has certainly taught us or, at least, reminded us of that. Always have and always will. But we should not and must not make the Sunday morning “worship service” the main thing. We must not make it more than it was intended to be.

Discipleship (or what I might even call “followship”) is the MAIN thing!

So, “go to church” on Sunday mornings. Meet with your fellow Christians that you normally gather with. Enjoy that community. Give yourself to the worship of our incredible God. But don’t put expectations and conditions on that time together that it was never intended to carry.

In my coming posts, let’s then move on to dig a bit deeper into “followship.” What might Jesus had intended for following him to look like?

Live loved.