Tag Archives: Jesus

Language Rut

27 Jul

Coffee shops are weird places. The clientele is predictable. A graphic designer works on his latest piece. An old man reads a well worn book. Two moms chat about the development of their children and whose kid is getting better grades and achieving more. Almost always though there is the unmistakable pastor. He is deep in conversation with a parishioner. I must confess, I am an avid eavesdropper. It’s not that I am incredibly nosy, it’s that I have ADD tendencies and I can’t focus while there is a conversation going on. I have heard some interesting conversations recently. April is breaking up with her boyfriend soon because she’s just not feeling it anymore. Mom #1 is really concerned about her kid going through puberty. I digress.

The thing that I have noticed in all my coffee shop listening is that in the christian community our conversations are incredibly predictable. The language tends to be stale and detached from the concerns and questions of the “lost.” Pastors and Christians are in a language rut–this pastor included. We say the same Christian catch-phrases over and over ad nauseum. It borderlines absurdity. There is no life in our language. This is a travesty. Any Christian, especially a pastor, should be a teeming brook of awe-inspiring language that captures attention–not because of our pretension or expertise but because of our intimate relationship with the God that chose to reveal himself in words. To reduce the glorious message of Jesus and his Kingdom into predictable Christian slogans that resemble a car dealership’s model year-end blowout sale is a grievous sin. Language that would relegate the infinitely beautiful God-story into a stale set of bullet points breaks the heart of God and severely thwarts the mission of the church.

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21). Words have power. You cannot have a conscious thought without words. Sure you see things in pictures at times, but those images are associated with words. Your thought life is in direct relationship with your language. Here’s a scary thought: God can’t speak to you with language you don’t have. At the risk of being heretical, his communication to you is limited by the words you know and use.

We need a language revival. There are several authors I read that use language in a way that burrows into the soul. Eugene Peterson and Brennan Manning don’t write mere books, the write symphonies. Reading their work is like being caught up and carried by wave. Time passes but you don’t feel it. Their use of language is breathtaking. I want that to be said of my work one day–that my words literally had life in them.

The solution is not go learn 10 new words a day and start figuring out how to use them. Language doesn’t work that way. You can’t list out all the words you know. Your vocabulary is a product of your context. A language revival starts with putting yourself in a new environment. Immerse yourself in the biblical narrative. Start reading great books. Listen to deeply meaningful sermons. Stop watching Jersey Shore. When you catch yourself using catch-phrases, stop and communicate what you’re trying to say in a new way. Don’t be guilty of using dead language for a God who’s alive.

Check out Brennan Manning’s book “The Furious Longing of God” free on kindle. I’d love to hear what you think of it.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Prayer (Week 1)

26 Jul

Prayer is at the core of human existence. We can’t help but to pray. It is the natural longing of the human heart to be in contact with the Divine. Thomas Merton said, “Prayer is an expression of who we are… We are a living incompleteness. We are a gap, an emptiness that calls for fulfillment.” There is a gaping hole inside each of us that can only be filled by relationship with Jesus. But there is enormous struggle in prayer. Many believe in the power of prayer theoretically but struggle mightily with it in practice–myself included. There are so many questions that come to mind. What is the purpose of prayer? Does prayer change God or me or both? Why do some prayers get answered and others go seemingly ignored? Why is prayer so difficult if it is a natural inclination of the heart? Does God hear us? Is prayer simply “manifest destiny” as some argue?

Over the the next 5 weeks I will be blogging on the topic of prayer and I hope to speak to many of the aforementioned questions.

Before we address anything specifically I think it is important to understand the heart of prayer. We pray, not because God demands it, but because he desires it. The God who saturates the universe–the eternal, uncreated and unending God–is intimately concerned with us. He hears our prayers. He desires us. To truly experience prayer you must first acknowledge and accept your identity as a beloved child of God. The Father wants to be in an intimate relationship with you. I dare you to believe it.

“Real prayer comes not from gritting our teeth but from falling in love.”
-Richard Foster

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Blogging through Bonhoeffer 5

12 Jul

We all wear masks. In this new age of social media and constant connection, we carefully craft an image of ourselves. We post things that make us seem smart, influential, good looking and, most importantly, better than other people. We are constantly monitoring this social media persona to make sure nothing happens that would jeopardize the image we’ve worked so hard to create. But this reaches far beyond the digital world. Our lives are lived behind masks. We buy homes and cars we can’t afford to impress people we don’t like to achieve something that we’ve been told matters.

This culture seeps into the church. We do whatever we can to appear spiritual. We do everything that’s needed to fit into the church subculture. Conversation soars with lofty spiritual ideas. We are fluent in Christian jargon. We act the part. It is no surprise that people can go to the same church and engage in conversation regularly for years and never truly know each other. There is an elephant in the room and no one seems to notice. The elephant is sin. We are, by nature, sinners in desperate need of grace. When we try to interact as pious devotees we are masked. It is only when we are all well acquainted with our brokenness that we can truly be in community as the people of God.

Bonhoeffer speaks directly to this issue in chapter 5 of Life Together. He challenges us remove the masks that we are so comfortable hiding behind. “He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone.” Many Christians find themselves in utter desolation. We are to blame for this issue. The church has a reputation for being a place where sinners do not feel welcome. No one wants to experience the judgement of the pious. So, they hide their sin. Bonhoeffer reminds us of the words of James, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you might be healed” (James 5:16). Confession is the prescription to this diseased culture of pious judgement. Bonhoeffer says that when we confess our brokenness to brothers/sisters in Christ we find healing. When we peel back the masks and confess our sins we experience forgiveness.

“Sin wants to remain unknown.” Darkness is the healthiest place for sin to grow. Sin takes us into isolation and tells us that no one understands. Sin tells us we are alone in the struggle. And the farther it drags you into isolation the darker it becomes. Light is the antidote for sin. When we openly bring our sin into the light by confessing it to our brother/sister we take away its power. “The expressed, acknowledged sin has lost all its power.”

Bonhoeffer says that “the root of all sin is pride.” We like our image we’ve created too much to let it be known we are weak sinners. But the thing we run from is the thing we desperately need. “Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation.” We are not fond of humiliation. But if we are to be like Christ we are to be intimately acquainted with abasement. The cross is the ultimate indignity. Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, hung naked on a cross, bearing the sin of all humanity for our sake. “The Cross of Jesus Christ destroys all pride. We cannot find the Cross of Jesus if we shrink from going to the place where it is to be found, namely, the public death of the sinner.” Jesus will meet you at the place you acknowledge your brokenness.

Bonhoeffer, later in the chapter, says that “Confession is conversion.” It is when we openly confess our sin to a brother that we find again the forgiveness of sins. It is in our confession that we experience salvation anew. Bonhoeffer also says that confession is discipleship. When we bring our sin into the light we are forced to face it and turn from it. Confession helps us to see the sheer ugliness of our sin. Often we give our sin to God in an abstract way and then move along. In the presence of a brother we must face the reality of our brokenness. Bonhoeffer says that we should confess “concrete” sins, not abstract ones. We should confess that we lied to our boss Tuesday, not that we lack self-control. When we speak of specific sins, we are forced to face our sinfulness. There is even a measure of pride in sharing abstract sin. You could revel in your humility to be able to be so transparent. It is hard to have any measure of pride in confessing a concrete, specific sin.

Jesus said that if you have a problem with your brother that you should leave the altar and go make amends with him. Bonhoeffer echoes this when he says that a perfect time for confession is before you partake of communion. It is clear that our actions affect the purity of our worship.

Bonhoeffer closes the chapter with some practical guidelines for confession. He says that there shouldn’t be anyone who bears the sole responsibility of hearing confessions. He says that it should be divided equally and naturally amongst the family of God. Confession is something to be shared. Anyone who does not regularly confess sin should not listen to the confession of others. We are all equal–sinners saved by grace.

We are given the opportunity to bear each other’s burdens in confession. We can stand firmly on the promises of God and offer forgiveness to our brother or sister for the sins they have committed. We can have full confidence that the Father forgives based on the promises of scripture.

Expose your sin to the light. Don’t allow yourself to burrow into the darkness. You can rest in the fact that you are a beloved child of God. He forgives without limit or restraint.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Blogging through Bonhoeffer 3

27 Jun

In chapter 2, “The Day with Others,” Bonhoeffer showed us what our life with others, centered around the person of Christ, should look like. In chapter 3, “The Day Alone,” Bonhoeffer explains what spiritual aloneness means for the Christ-follower.

Bonhoeffer begins the chapter with an indictment on people that look to the church to alleviate their loneliness. “The person who comes into a fellowship because he is running away from himself is misusing it for the sake of diversion, no matter how spiritual this diversion may appear.” This is strong language and I find myself challenged by it. I hate to be alone. This is no secret. I am energized being in a crowd of people. I start to go stir crazy by myself. Bonhoeffer would tell me that I desperately need ‘”the day alone.”

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.” Some of us go to community looking to get our needs met. Others run from community to bask in aloneness, where the self is king. There is a “together/alone” continuum that we need to find our rhythm in. Truth is found in the tension of opposites. Togetherness means nothing apart from aloneness and visa-versa. We are called to both community and solitude. “One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.”

Henri Nouwen calls silence and solitude (which cannot be divorced) the furnace of transformation. It is when the noise and pace of life stops that we hear the still small voice of Jesus. But we run from it. Even those that enjoy being alone rarely experience solitude. We use our aloneness as an opportunity for distraction. We read a magazine, watch 14 episodes of Lost, or mindlessly browse the internet. Be sure, this is not the solitude that Bonhoeffer speaks of. He quickly dispels the selfish aloneness as well as the mystical approach to silence. Christian solitude and meditation is not about emptying ourselves and becoming aware of some mystical reality beyond our world. “Silence is the simple stillness of the individual under the word of God.” When we are bathed in the Word of God we find ourselves silent, meditating on what has been lodged into our soul. The Word doesn’t stop communicating when silence begins. The God who inspired the scripture continues to speak to us in the most intimate way. Silence and solitude are not ends but means to an end–intimacy with the father. But too many times we allow the noise of our busy lives to distract us from the voice of God who speaks in the stillness. If we step away from the commotion and retreat to a solitary place, like Jesus did so many times, there the voice of Abba Father speaks tenderly to his children. But it is also in the stillness that we see the darkness of our own heart. So we run. We don’t like facing our fears and our hurts. But it is in precisely that place where God wants to meet you. He wants you at your most vulnerable.

It is only in the context of this deep intimacy with God in solitude, silence, and meditation that the individual can truly enjoy community. Bonhoeffer concludes the chapter with a question about the purity of the Christ-follower’s aloneness. He asks, “Has it (our solitude) transported him for a moment into a spiritual ecstasy that vanishes when everyday life returns, or has it lodged the Word of God so securely and deeply in his heart that it holds and fortifies him, impelling him to active love, to obedience, to good works?”

Your solitude shouldn’t lead you some existential euphoria or state of centeredness. It shouldn’t make you withdraw from the world. It should cultivate your heart to prepare you to dive head first into a community that loves each other and the world.

We stand alone together.

-Joseph Phillips

Tags: , , , , , ,

Newer Entries →