Sorting Out Priorities

Dear friends,

Last week we started Lent by taking notice of the world around us in a new way, especially noticing our impact on creation. As we enter week 2 of our mental spring cleaning, I invite us to turn our attention inward, and specifically to look at our priorities.

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the priorities behind the Declaration of Independence, and 200+ years later they’re still pretty popular… and for good reason! I really like life, liberty, and happiness, and I think they’re a good baseline for what a government should aim for in its people. And isn’t that the same as what we should aim for as followers of Christ?

If so, this week’s gospel passage is pretty hard to swallow. Mark 8:31-38 includes some pretty rough passages, including “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” Strong stuff!

And it seems at first that all this talk of crosses and loss of life stands pretty directly opposed to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”! But when I look at the story of Jesus, at the journey towards Jerusalem, towards the confrontation with corrupt government and a brutal war machine that waited for him there, I don’t think that Jesus is saying we shouldn’t value life; I think he just has a bigger perspective on what that means.

Sometimes valuing life means being willing to give up your own life. Sometimes things are so bad that people have to run terrible risks in the pursuit of justice, in the pursuit of the Gospel which is good news to the poor. I think that protesters and journalists and missionaries understand very well that it’s dangerous to do the right thing sometimes, and that if you’re going to dedicate yourself to the Way of truth and peace it might come with some serious consequences.

Thank Heavens most of us don’t face those consequences in our daily lives. But these words from Jesus keep things in perspective. Even as we pursue our own happiness, we are reminded that our top priority must be something bigger than that, it must be a commitment to the Christ that calls for justice and rightness and healing for all people and all creation.

May God’s priorities reorient us and reign in us all.

Peace and joy be with you,
Andrew

Lord of the Dance

Dear friends,

This comes from an article by Doreen Miller, spiritual director at Gingrichs Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania. It really struck me with its directness and realness, neither sensationalizing nor covering up one woman's difficult experience of finding God. It's not long, so I invite you to read slowly, as I don't think Doreen wastes any words and I found each sentence to speak volumes.

Misty (name changed) was referred to me for spiritual direction by a counselor. Raised in a Christian family, Misty had recently been devastated by a completely unexpected misunderstanding and relational break with a beloved sibling. Now in their thirties, the two siblings had always been very close — best friends. It was an overwhelming grief.

Despite doggedly continuing in her usual routine of daily Bible study and prayer and weekly church attendance, Misty was gradually sinking deeper and deeper into despair. Increasingly, her husband found her curled up on the floor, immobilized by hopelessness. Not even caring for her cheerful, talkative four-year-old could distract Misty from her pain and loss for long.

As usual with spiritual directors, I listened with love to Misty’s story and then asked a series of open-ended questions.

What was happening in her prayer life?
She had a hard time praying now … just said the words and went through the motions, with no sense that God heard.

Where did she see, hear, or experience God nowadays?
She wasn’t sure. God seemed very distant…or maybe even completely absent.

Where did she see, hear, or experience love then?
Her husband was kind but didn’t know how to help. She didn’t want to worry the rest of her family. Her friends were at a loss.

What did she want from God? 
Relief! Just relief from this pain! Some sign of hope!

What DID bring her joy? Anything? 
Surprisingly, she still enjoyed dancing. While a missionary with her husband in Europe, Misty had learned how to ballroom dance in order to establish relationships and engage the culture.

Tell me about it. What does dancing feel like to you? 
“Dancing feels like freedom,” she said. “My partner holds me lightly yet firmly, and all I need to do is respond and follow. I just lean into his leading and trust. Never quite knowing what’s ahead, my body has been trained through years of practice to respond to a little tug here, some slight pressure there. Together, we flow and float with the music as I respond to the gentle yet persistent touch of his hands.”

Ah…Might God be there? Return to the dance. Pay attention. Might God be there? 
[Silence, then tears] “Yes,” She said. “Yes, God’s there. Holding me. Leading me. I am not alone.”

What an unexpected surprise that I, a Mennonite spiritual director, would watch God gradually heal His daughter’s heart over the ensuing months by dancing with her! God literally danced the Night away.

I love that image of the Spirit leading us in a dance, something that we have learned and practiced but that also expresses our deepest rhythm, a flowing exercise in unconscious mutual understanding. Not all of us can dance, but may we all feel the embrace of That loving grace.

Joy be with you all,
Andrew

Keeping It Real

Dear friends,

Have you ever seen one of those ads, usually from some massive brand name or another, that runs something like, “be yourself… by wearing our shoes! As many of you as possible, be uniquely yourself by displaying our corporate logo!

I’m not the first person to notice how goofy it is to use “be yourself” to sell the same stuff to millions of people, but I’ve been seeing these ads my entire life so it must keep working. I guess it shows just how attracted we Americans are to the idea of uniqueness and authenticity, to being “real” no matter who you’re with or where you are. We even like our politicians to at least make an effort to appear genuine, even if we all realize that it’s usually a front.

I actually really like that part of our culture, even though advertisers try to use it to sell us stuff. I think authenticity is important, not being totally wishy-washy or becoming a completely different person when you’re around a different crowd.

But then what do I do with this week’s passage from 1 Corinthians? (“To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews… to the weak I became weak so that I might win the weak.”) Paul practically boasts about being a social chameleon, mimicking the various groups he encounters, emphasizing one aspect or another of his life so as to better connect with people and preach the Good News to them. Paul seems to be about as “real” and “authentic” as your average politician!

It’s a reminder that my American taste for a certain flavor of authenticity might not actually be the most honest thing in the world. Fact is, when we are with old friends we do act differently and talk differently than when we’re with, say, our boss. And it’s natural to try to point out things you have in common with people, it’s natural to bring up your obsession with Bollywood when talking with an Indian or (in Paul’s case) your extensive Jewish education when talking with Jewish people.

Yes, if you take it too far it looks pretty stupid… and can definitely lead to deception and hypocrisy. But it’s good to know that God doesn’t expect us to be exactly the same person all the time; I don’t think I could manage it. God understands that real authenticity isn’t about talking the same, acting the same, and wearing the same clothes all the time; it’s about a deeper consistency, the Good News that we bring into all our circumstances through the love that dwells in our hearts.

May we find a way to be true to ourselves that is not rigid but allows us to genuinely connect with the people in our lives, to the glory of God who loves us all,

Andrew

Laser Focus

Dear friends,

It feels like the new year has barely gotten started and already Christmas seems a century ago. The golden glow of December has decidedly given way to the harsh light of January, and I’m finding it easy to get focused on work, to fall into a rhythm.

Which is no small blessing! Productivity is great in itself… but that kind of rhythm also carries some real potential for spiritual harm. Whether you work in the house or outside of it, as a laborer, volunteer, or student, in an effort to do our best at what we do we shrink our perspective, narrowing our focus. We lose our attentiveness to the small things, the interactions with strangers, the unpredictable movement of God’s Spirit in our lives.

We can even lose touch with ourselves, preferring to gloss over our emotions and desires rather than taking the time and effort to deal with them honestly. We get so caught up in our plans that we lose sight of the mystery, the beauty, (and the fragility!) of life. James 4:13-15 reminds us to hold our plans a little more lightly, remembering that what may come to pass isn’t always in our hands. Living with an awareness of God’s love, we don’t need to cling to a false sense of certainty about the future, but can face each day bravely, doing the next right thing.

May the end of January bring us focus tempered by perspective and productivity freed from stress.

God’s love shine on you all,
Andrew

Living in a Temple

Dear friends,

This week has been a whirlwind of meetings; I’ve been fortunate to have several conversations with local pastors now the holidays have passed. I was hoping to sit down with them to talk about what they see as needs and priorities in this area and to see if there weren’t opportunities for collaboration, and indeed the conversations were very fruitful.

I couldn’t help but be struck once again by the crazy diversity of beliefs that are all put under the “Christian” umbrella right here within a mile of where we meet to worship. There’s not necessarily a whole lot that Pentecostals and Quakers have in common -- until you start to look at lifestyle, that is.

Not that there isn’t still a fair bit of diversity of lifestyle within and between all the Christian churches, but I think broadly speaking there’s a lot more common ground and consensus there than there is in matters of belief. In particular, you’d be hard pressed to find a group of faithful people that doesn’t echo Paul’s words this week from 1 Corinthians: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.”

There’s this sense that the things in our lives that cause harm and addiction are to be carefully moderated or even outright rejected. We may disagree on where exactly the line of harm and addiction lies: some churches totally reject alcohol, others discourage TV ownership, others leave it up to the individual but all of these groups echo Paul’s fundamental perspective. Not just our minds but our bodies are holy and valuable, we are not just sponges to be wrung out for every ounce of pleasure but temples to be respected and maintained.

As many of us try to cultivate good habits (and maybe weed out a few bad ones) I hope the broad consensus among people who can hardly agree on anything gives us reason to stick with it.

May an awareness of God’s value for your person suffuse your day,
Andrew