seethrough

we always like to think that “we” are better.  even when we are trying to be humble.   our “humility” is “better” than those we deem to be arrogant or misguided.

“better” is a judgment that is motivate by the our common need to compare.

how can we overcome this addiction to comparison?

I have spent most of my life within one religious tradition.  at one point i considered changing, but in the end stayed and been fairly stable since then about where home was.  But a friend was recently reflecting her experience of having been in “charismatic” churches and also in “mainline” churches and her observation was that we are all the same: in this sense, that we are all comparing ourselves with the others - so as to better describe our positions.  It seems - she said - that every church community needs to be against something in order to define itself - it’s position and character.

At first I was surprised.  I thought that it was teh Charismatics (THEM) who broke away from us over theological issues like baptism and speaking in tongues.  I thought that it was THEY who were “against” us.   But her surprising observation was that within a “mainline” church she had experience as much negative comparison as in any other church she had been in.  Her conclusion: we all define ourselves by what we are against.

And then the challenge:  she asked, why can’t we define ourselves more often by what we are for?  What are we hoping for?  What are we working for?  What are we longing for?

is this the answer to my earlier question - how can  we overcome our addiction to comparison?  Comparisons are a part of our daily life - comparing and contrasting red with orange, and darker with lighter.  Comparison isn’t in-and-of-itself a bad thing.  But how quickly it degenerates into negatice comparisons that form value judgements about how pretty someone is, how slim someone is, how clever a person is…

And who are we comparing with?  usually our negative comparisons are with ourselves - our body, our party, our church, our position etc… - so as to reaffirm our confidence.

We make a world of “them” and “us”.

We must break this habit.  And we must spend as much of our focus and energy on what we are FOR …

FOR God’s sake.

“choose your enemies carefully because they will define you” - u2, cedars of lebanon

a colleague of mine often makes reference to “an enemy-loving community” when he talks about the community that has faith in Jesus.  This seems to be one of the most clearly described values of Jesus - and one that he lived out right to the point of death.  Whatever the enemy threw at him, he refused to hate them.  We can reflect on what enabled Jesus to do that - and we should - but the key thing to begin with is recognition that this was not just a path Jesus had to follow so that we wouldn’t have to..  but rather a path he taught, calling us to embrace the value.  He initiated the way and walked ahead of us, calling us to follow.

So Brian McClaren makes this painful observation at a Conference in Magaliesburg this week:

“The Way of a man of peace and reconciliation and liberation who was tortured and killed by powerful people became a powerful religion that defended oppression, torture and violence in the name of this very man.”

Till we really wrestle with how we treat our enemies, I don’t think we have really grappled deeply with the teaching and life of Jesus of Nazareth.  How we feel about our enemies is another matter all together.  Those who have hurt us, abused us and attacked us… their actions are not condoned, nor should they ever be sanctioned.  But as Desmond Tutu observes, “pain, if not transformed, will be transmitted”.  Transformation and Healing is desperately needed in our lives, lest the pain be transmitted, through our words and actions, and through our children to following generations.  Our pain is not ignored of overlooked by Jesus.  His suffering on the cross is precisely the moment of solidarity.  We do not suffer alone.

But what we DO with our pain will become the central question of our lives.  And somehow our enemies become the symbol of everything that salvation is about.  Will they (and we) be destroyed - wiped off the face of the earth?  Or can this situation of conflict, animosity, abuse and violence be redeemed?

who is your enemy today?

what if the world’s currency were based on “a loaf of bread”.

There’d be no inflation.  A loaf of bread is a loaf bread.

economists and bankers may argue with me with fantastic arguments about how i don’t understand the macro economic dynamics.  but all that complicated talk is a well-developed screen to deflect the growing realisation that the current dominant economic system that our world has given itself to is fundamentally flawed.  not only is it doomed to collapse (and recollapse) - but it is also a complicated system of ensuring that powerless people stay subservient to the most powerful.  it is fundamentally enethical.

I first began to reflect on the nature of the economic system we are all subservient to as the crisis in Zimbabwe deepened.  As the economy of Zimbabwe dipped and inflation worsened, the signs were there (according to all the fundamentals of economic speak) that there would be a melt-down and that the economy would bring everything to a halt.  But things carry on.  The government prints money.  not recommended by economists who need the integrity of “currency” to be upheld.  But Bob prints money all the time.  And things carry on.  Inflation has reached the hundreds of millions percentile.  It’s beyond sense.  everything should be grinding to a halt.  But things carry on.

well trained in the religion of market capitalism (as i am) I assumed there must be a point at which all these factors cause everything to come to a halt, and Bob would have to bow to the forces of the market.  But he hasn’t.  And that’s because Bob knows something that few of us have realised.

That a loaf of bread is still a loaf of bread.  The market can use it’s language to “tell” us that the “value” of a loaf of bread has gone “up” (inflation), but in reality we know that the $1 loaf of bread we ate yesterday and the $2 loaf of bread we ate today is exactly the same.  it’s real value remains the same.

so i ask, what if the world’s currency were based on “a loaf of bread”?

It’s sad that the dominant economic system is so all-prevailing and has it’s tentacles so deeply in our lives - that we are so deeply invested in this system that any attempt to think sensibly about economics - and the value of things - will be dismissed as the talk of crazy wierdo liberal “communist ” extremisits.  “They probably don’t even believe in GOD!!!!”  …and side-lined along with talk of aliens and the illuminati.

And so the system carries on… well protected by it’s self-supporting principles of greed, aquisition, money-for-nothing, quick profits and world economic crises leaving the poorest of the poor without a pension…

i can’t win an argument.  but i can ask the question.  when your “investments” lost a third of their value last month (in the period of about 3 weeks) who said?   who says your “investment” is suddenly worth less?  and who is benefiting from that “loss”?

economists will blame “the market”.  but just press pause on that simplistic answer and interrogate the system for just a moment:  if the market crashes and everyone loses, why would everyone support that system with such faithfulness???  think about it…

simple, everyday, ordinary, (often poor) people are being raped by a system that allows 3 single individuals to acquire more wealth than the GDP of 45 (25%) of the world’s poorest countries.  

The chart to the left shows the balance of consumption:  that 20% of the worlds people consume more than a quarter (76.6%) ofd the share, leaving just 1.5% for another 20% of the world’s population.

Let’s not buy into simple lies.  “The market” is not deciding who gets what and how much.  Powerful people are able to use the market to their advantage, leaving other human beings to starve and rot.  It’s way past time to take stock and reconsider…

the original language of the christian scriptures has an interesting take on time.  there are two words that refer to “time”.  chronos refers to the passing of time - the concept of a chronological set of events.  The fascinating word for time is kairos.  kairos refers to “the right time”.  it is used to proclaim the conviction that “the time is now”!

kairos is a way of living.  it honours the present.

I say, if God can’t be found in the present, he won’t be found.

We may be tempted to go looking for God in other circumstances.  We may be tempted to go and sit at the feet of some swami in India.  but God (truth) is not more apparent or real in India or Tibet or any particular holy shrine.  If you can’t find God where you are, you’re not going to find him in India!

We may be tempted to go looking for God in other times.  We may read about the early church in the book of Acts and wish our lives away, desiring to rather have lived in that time. Or we could fantasize about some utopian future and wish our life away in favour of the dream.  but God (truth) was no more present back then than in any other time in history.  If you can’t meet with God today, you’re not going to suddenly awaken to intimacy tomorrow.  Intimacy will begin today with the desire for it.  For even “the desire to pray is prayer itself” (dom chapman)

We may be tempted to wait for a better season.  We may be struggling with pain and despair, a period of depression or physical sickness, or suffering the loss and longings of bereavement.  And we may be tempted to think that the invitations of Jesus are just too hard to be meant for now…  We’ll wait for an easier time to begin to listen and follow.  There will be no easier time.  Nor a better time to begin to listen to the gentle invitations, intended not to constrain but to free, not to confound but to guide and heal…

kairos: now is always a good time to begin…

what does it mean to own something?

“owning” something doesn’t ensure that it can’t be lost or takne by someone else.  and if someone else takes it, does it then belong to them?

do we own the land on which our house it built?  what does it mean to say that the land is mine?  obviously there is a sense in which the land belongs to me because there are soceity rules governing access to that land.  i can restrict access based on my title-deed.  but in the greater scheme of things, can I say that the land is mine?  earth-quakes and floods tend to make fun of title-deeds.

and our bodies?  human rights express the right of every person to safety and the freedom of their own body.  i am fully supportive of the desire to support and protect those basic human rights.  but ultimately those “rights” are again undermined by death.  my body is “mine” until that confidence is undermined by sudden illness or death.

divorce reminds us to be cautious about speaking about “my wife”…  we often speak like a person can own their spouse.

and children…  when they leave home, they challenge our sense that they are ours.

i think we need a huge re-think on the matter of ownership.

(for our own well-being, as well as the well-being of people in the light of increasingly materialistic and consumeristic ways of doing life)

with institutional religion taking on such an awful, authoratative tone in the past century, i think that people have come to resist being told what to do

and then there’s the common resistance amongst protestants to anything Catholic - because of historical fears of unhealthy (and it did sometimes get unhealthy) asceticism. When resistance to attachments leads to all-out rejection of body and pleasure, it has lost the thread of a healthy celebration of creation - balance.

but either way, much of the “christian” spirituality i have experienced spends very little energy inviting people to adopt a learning discipline. discipline has a bad name for the reasons given above, and probably for a whole bunch of other reasons including a simple misunderstanding. when “discipline” is associated with punishment, i believe it has no helpful contribution to a better understanding of God or of the spiritual journey. in fact, talk of punishment (in my not so humble opinion) makes NO helpful contribution to our relationship with God.

but when the word “discipline” is associated with training and learning (the root word disciple means learner or trainee) then I think we can use this word helpfully to guide our way toward better relationship with God. So when the Bible, or some religious person suggests that God is inclined to discipline his children… i believe it is referring to this second kind of discipline - they kind that has to do with training and learning - a restraint or a constraint not for the purpose of punishment but quite the opposite - for the purpose of growth.

freedom is not having no limitations. freedom is found through discipline. e.g. i may be free to run a marathon (unlikely in my case!!!) if i have committed to the discipline of regular training and exercise.

it is in this atmosphere of learning and training that i would introduce the practice of spiritual disciplines. Dallas Willard in The spirit of the disciplines identifies disciplines of abstinence and disciplines of engagement. What can you give up or stop doing that might help you to learn the way of Jesus? and what can you do that will help you learn the way of Jesus?

I was talking to someone this week who struggles with insecurity and a low self-esteem even though she has achieved great things in her life. I suggested some spiritual disciplines. for abstinence i suggested the discipline of rest. in the bible this is called “sabbath” - it simply means in between times for working there needs to be time for not working. but in our driven economy we find it difficult to rest. so a discipline can help us challenge that inner voice that seems to want to drive us to death through endless striving.

for engagement i suggest the discipline of being kind to herself. usually spiritual disciplines are associated with difficulty and removing comforts, but I believe that when people are driven and struggle to receive God’s love and grace - radical kindness is required, and that may start with ourselves (for some of us)!!!

does this approach to spiritual discipline appeal to you or help you in any way?

Last night Ruben and I were playing around the house while we were waiting for the braai-fire to be ready. We found a balloon and began kicking it around the house. I thought of a great game. I suggested we start at the one end of the kitchen and then kick the balloon and see how many kicks it required to get it to hit the Kitchen door.

I started: one, two, THREE!!!!! I took three kicks to get the balloon across the kitchen.

Then it was Ruben’s turn. (more…)

what kind of God would he be
if he did not hear the bangles ring on an ant’s wrist
as they move the earth in their sweet dance?

and what kind of God would he be
if a leaf’s prayer was not as precious to Creation
as the prayer His own son sang
from the glorious depth of his soul - for us.

and what kind of God would he be
if the vote of millions in this world could sway him
to change the Divine law of love

that speaks so clearly with compassion’s elegant tongue,
saying, eternally saying:

all are forgiven - moreover, dears,
no one has ever been guilty.

what kind of God would he be
if he did not count the blinks of your eyes
and is in absolute awe of their movements?

what a God - what a God we have.