Living Spirituality

Envisioning God

2009-07-17T07:00:00.000+02:00

Scripture, creation, and imagination are an interconnected web through which we see God sufficiently.

The ZigZag Café

2009-07-16T06:45:00.000+02:00

We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.

For today:

Do you see anything wrong with Peter’s answer to Jesus’ question in Mk 8: But who do you say that I am?

8:22

And they came to Beth-sa'ida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him.

8:23

And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?"

8:24

And he looked up and said, "I see men; but they look like trees, walking."

8:25

Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly.

8:26

And he sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

8:27

And Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?"

8:28

And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets."

8:29

And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ."

8:30

And he charged them to tell no one about him.

8:31

And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

8:32

And he said this plainly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.

8:33

But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your focus not on divine things, but human things."

8:34

And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, "If any would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

8:35

For those who want to save their life will lose it; and those who lose life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

8:36

For what does it profit them to gain the whole world and lose their life?

8:37

For what can anyone give in return for their life?

8:38

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

2009-07-15T07:50:00.000+02:00

Tragically, in the face of the ontological and epistemological attack of atheism today, Christians, generally speaking, fade from the scene of any deep engagement with culture, ideas, or issues that might bring forth new challenges to atheists or our own interpretations of the biblical text and living in the world.

Messiah Makers?

2009-07-14T09:45:00.000+02:00

To come after Jesus is to first deny oneself. Self denial then is a denying of a particular self – a self centered self, a self sufficient self, a messiah making self, a selfish self, and a false self. This does not mean to become nothing, but it is to put one’s self centered interests aside, especially with regard to messianic ideology, and to embrace the Other, namely God and then the things of God. Imaginary constructs and unrealistic hopes can often turn us into our own messiah makers. Messiah making is a risky and dangerous enterprise and something that we can all tend to do in one way or the other. We are to be followers of the things of God, not human traditions of messiah making.

Reflection for the Week

2009-07-14T07:19:00.001+02:00

To follow after Jesus is to deny oneself and to take up one’s cross. A denial of self does not mean to become a zero or selfless, but is stressing the necessity of setting aside one’s self-centered interests, especially with regard to messianic ideology. That is, the tendency of turning Jesus the Messiah into a savior of one’s own making, instead of a focusing on and embracing the things of God. In doing the latter the result will be cross taking, which translates into life receiving.

The ZigZag Café

2009-07-09T08:22:00.000+02:00

For today:

Do you think that loving an uninformed or arrogant Christian legalist-fundamentalist who needs to change their outlook, way of relating and understanding might contribute to a change taking place?

Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

2009-07-08T08:07:00.000+02:00

Sometimes, unfortunately, Christians get the impression from a proof text reading of Scripture that to deny self or to lose self means to efface oneself. But this is not the case. Love of self is moral and biblical. A love for Creator and creation, for example, includes love of self, as does love for the other. Love of self is essential for living spirituality, though it must never be the referent for itself.

Reflection for the Week

2009-07-06T06:11:00.000+02:00

Re-envisioning our lives as children of the living God is a worthwhile enterprise. To do this try taking a step forward. While the routine and the every day are important, it is similarly quite essential for Christians to focus on the future culmination of the Kingdom of God and its bearing on the present. A re-envisioning of our present lives means that we are never to consider them on their own, but we are to know and embrace the truth that they are to be seen as integrated with the New Testament writings that mark out the “day of Christ” as the time in which Christ will reign not only our lives, but over everything. This future perspective should saturate the present in opening new horizons for redeeming and renewing action now.

The ZigZag Café

2009-07-02T08:12:00.001+02:00

For today:

What should we do when a change in attitude, understanding, and mentality is necessary, but some Christians are unaware of this because of weakness or simplicity?

Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

2009-07-01T08:08:00.000+02:00

Revelatory scriptural propositions from and about God, we must recall, are streaked with blacks, whites, blues, oranges, and reds that point us beyond the creational sunrise and sunset to a new horizon of being in community with God. When the vital connection between God and imagination is severed we are at a greater risk of losing faith and hope, becoming prisoners of the darkened world of our own making.

Presumption & Despair

2009-06-30T07:58:00.000+02:00

Imaginative presumption or despair plays a massive role in our context. Culturally speaking there’s a Seinfeld god, an absent god, an image god, a nature god, an internet god, a republican or democrat god, or a powerless god to mention just a few of the representations of the gods of culture that can lead to despair. More specifically, in Christian circles, we often find an overdose of presumption. Some Christians imagine that they know exactly what God is doing, and that through the Spirit God speaks directly to them. A Christian once told me that he could be perfect in this life because the Spirit had assured him that was the case. Another time a believer insisted that a verse in Isaiah was written explicitly for her. Misleading fictions like these tend to be prominent today, but such presumption has more to do with self-centeredness than it does truly knowing, imaginatively and otherwise, the living God.

Reflection for the Week

2009-06-29T06:23:00.000+02:00

Setting up our own standards by which to measure ourselves happens all the time. This is just the norm for so many believers. But such standards can tend to put God in the wrong place, while they also falsify us. God’s standards are not our own. They come to us through creation, cross, and new creation, which frees us from being the center of our lives.

The ZigZag Café

2009-06-25T08:56:00.001+02:00

For today:

Does knowledge of God require imagination?

Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

2009-06-24T17:30:00.000+02:00

As Christians we are to be concerned about the whole eschatological process of salvation, but at the same time, also to realize that it is God who is at work in us. This work has, as its goal, God’s good purposes based on his gracious desire to save, judge, and bring us to complete salvation in a renewed world on the day of Christ.

Reflection for the Week

2009-06-22T06:22:00.000+02:00

There is a lamentable lack of focus today on reading the biblical text. Bibles proliferate, but go unread. One of the most significant things that Christians want to attempt to do is engage and be engaged by the biblical text. In a very basic, yet profound way we want to learn more about being open to God’s word, so that it can read us. Being read will help us turn away from selfish tendencies and towards the living God, creation, and each other.

The ZigZag Café

2009-06-18T06:58:00.001+02:00

For today:

Hugging forbidden! Recently, hugging was banned at several schools in various places around the world. What are your thoughts? Anything important about this ban or the act of a frequent hug?

Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

2009-06-17T12:17:00.000+02:00

One of the least attractive aspects of Christian spirituality may appear to be vulnerability. Protecting oneself and enhancing what one supposes must be safety, or is somehow owed to oneself, drives sensibilities like a massive wave crashing in the sea. Power is assumed to be found in shielding against all potential danger that might cause one to risk being vulnerable. True, risk may be present, though one ought not to see oneself as succumbing to the sword of the victimizer, because vulnerability does not translate into being a victim, as it is real power and a strength that originates in love. Granted, the presence of such a vulnerability mode is dependent on who one is and where one is on the journey towards the ultimate destiny of facing God.

Reflection for the Week

2009-06-15T06:21:00.000+02:00

The plight of all too many churches is internal disintegration. Judgment and separation dominate, leaving in their wake bitter and unforgiving hearts. In such awful circumstances renewal and redemption need to break through the hardness, so that love and unity can flourish.

The ZigZag Café

2009-06-11T07:51:00.000+02:00

For today:

Relationships today seem to emerge with frequency and easily come and go, but love is rare and tough in that its demands go beyond the momentary and casual. It appears that love has it all going against it; commitment, trust, fidelity, longevity, sacrifice, and risk to name a few of its infelicities. Do you think that many people in our culture have given up on love?

Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

2009-06-10T14:38:00.000+02:00

Tenacious obscurity sometimes plagues us and we’re unable to see as clearly as we would like. Groping around for illumination saturates our thoughts and feelings, and there are no easy answers. We fear being Xcluded, alienated, and lost. Yet, living and working through the shadow of time is continually a challenge to find the light and to embrace it as we are able.

Commitment

2009-06-09T12:18:00.000+02:00

Lack of commitment seems to permeate the landscape of our culture. Fleeting choices of communication and knowledge allow us to play freely with others. We’re all too frequently motivated or even controlled by a fear of promise, pledge, and obligation. Hurt, rejection, and the risk of being loved combine to re-enforce the notion that death reigns, and we may find ourselves sucked into the vortex of a web of lies. A call for sacrifice may strike us as unattractive. Trust of self and other appears a chimera. Yet, part of a radically transforming work of truth in us is to heighten the level of commitment to God, self, other and world, and to that which is good – wanting the best for and deeply loving at all costs in the embrace of life.

Reflection for the Week

2009-06-08T06:20:00.000+02:00

Sometimes we may feel washed over by waves of doubt. Wrestling with our faith in God puts us in good company with many a character in the Bible. Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions and to seek to find true answers. God invites us to do so, giving us sufficient ways to understand Him, ourselves, and the world.

The ZigZag Café

2009-06-04T08:20:00.000+02:00

For today:

What would you suggest to someone who had misinterpreted the seriousness of a romantic relationship and when it ceased therefore felt betrayed and lied to by the other person, and now the other person is married, but this someone can’t reconcile with or be in the presence of this other person? Both are Christians.

Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

2009-06-03T12:21:00.001+02:00

Loving someone so much that you give them the freedom to not love you in return may be the closet we ever come to divine love.

Two Stories

2009-06-02T12:08:00.000+02:00

There are two stories in conflict throughout the Christian journey. The first is the story of the truth, creation, promise, redemption and hope, which results in life. The second is the story of the lie, uncreation, deception, fear, and hopelessness, which brings death.

These two stories battle for a primary authority, control, and for ultimate direction. Recounting itself over and over, the second story just doesn’t disappear, but may grip us deeply. Things in this world sometimes seem pointless and without meaning. A recurring thought is – is it worth it. Yet, the first story is still more potent and dominant, because it is true. The world is full of meaning – even a surplus of meaning. It is worth it.

The stability of the first story, its super-abundant explanatory power, and its capacity to touch the whole of our lives, forces the second story into a fleeting recounting, submission, and diminishing significance.