For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life

and those who find it are few.

Mattew 7.14

 

This post is due to a friend of mine asking me to post something. He did ask that the post be heretical; maybe next time. 

This verse often irritates on me. Not the verse itself, but how we treat it. I have seen a comic book style drawing of people on two paths. Yes, one broad and presumably easy. The other, narrow and steep and rocky. On the broad path are people engaged in all kinds of debauchery. The other path, the narrow one, shows people diligently walking over the obstacles. Of course the paths go in divergent directions. The message is clear. Those who are Christian are on the narrow and difficult path. Those who are in the world are on the broad and easy path enjoying themselves. Not only is the underlying theology horribly misguided, it also misses the point. 

Jesus is speaking to us. He is speaking to you and he is speaking to me. This teaching, in the Sermon on the Mount, is delivered to those who had already decided to follow him. It is a warning. Scripture is full of contradictions. At one point in Matthew’s Gospel he tells us, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt 11.30) If I am to believe the commentaries, the term ‘yoke’ refers to the body of teachings of a Rabbi. Yet, in this passage we are told that gate is narrow and the path is difficult to find. To use this verse as the self-congratulatory boast that we have made it, misses the point. 

Yes, this is a warning. In the following verses Jesus tells us that despite of all that we might have done “in his name” that we never knew him. This caution is for us to be mindful of how we live our faith. I think it was delivered in the hyperbolic style of Rabbis at the time. (Think televangelists) But, was it really hyperbole? One only has to consider the devastation that has been wrought in the name of Jesus to understand this warning. The broad path does lead to destruction. The broad path is so often religion itself. We so often ignore the call to self-examination that is the core of this warning. 

With school over for the time being, I have more time to play with Jinks and watch YouTube videos. And nestled between videos of pop music and political commentary, I watch people teaching on our faith. Some of them are good, some are not so good, and then there are those that are cringe worthy. (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.) I also watch the occasional documentary of history and archeology. 

Through all this I have found a number of teachers that I think are worth taking the time to watch. One of them particularly so. In using the idea of our life of faith being a path he has identifies two extremes. On one side would be Progressive Christianity and deconstructionism. On the other side lies Conservative Christianity and tradition. He is talking about these being taken to EXTREMES. He also states that he sees value in both and agrees with some of the things each side presents. (Maybe the narrow path?) In his teachings he has become quite popular. Some have likened him to Timothy Keller. 

Thus the stage is set for his critics to become vocal. It is surprising that there are those who would take the time to criticize him. To make a video that focuses on how this teacher is wrong, misreads scripture, and misquotes other authors is weird. It is also weird that often these critiques misquotes him and misreads scripture. Also, they use earlier teachings of him to dismiss what he has to say. (It is not like as we grow in faith our understanding changes.) It moves beyond weird when the critique becomes that this man is not a Christian and that he is teaching heresy. I think we need to judge what is taught to us and discern that which we find useful and that which we don’t. Even with the most cringe worthy of teachers I find ideas that are useful. Too often the measure of the truth and accuracy of what this man teaches is whether his doctrine aligns with the critic’s own theology. 

To give those who have provided such critiques the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they are doing so to warn others of this apostate hypocrite. Paul, the apostle, warned of those teaching other Gospels. And I get the impulse to attack those who we disagree with vehemently. Added to this are a few videos that I have watched that teach us what we have to believe in order for us to be a Christian. It is more than Jesus came to walk amongst us teaching, died on the Cross, and then was raised from the dead. Even within the Crucifixion and Resurrection there is a specific view that is considered “true.” This is despite that there are various perspectives of what occurred on Golgotha. 

To be honest I watch these videos with a bias. My theology has always been “left of centre.” DM to ask about my cat’s relationship with God. I am little guarded against others “critiquing” my faith. To continue to be honest, there are those who I question the validity of their faith. I am doing better with not condemning them. Here is the crux of the matter. We do need to consider the teachings of others. I would include the person that is sitting next to you as offering an understanding of the Gospel. We also need to do more than just see if what they are teaching fits within our understanding. None of us have the one and only correct understanding of what it means to follow the teachings of Jesus. 

We are told that the gate is narrow and the path difficult to find. We are not called to congratulate ourselves that we have made it! In fact all through the New Testament we  are cautioned to never consider that we have arrived. If we are to mature in our faith we need to keep our focus on whether we are following Christ. This includes considering the perspectives of others. 

That is not to say that there are not heresies. There are! Not as many as we think. My point, and you knew I would eventually get around to it, is this. My faith and my focus is on whether I am following Jesus. (This is more than following his Facebook page and Twitter feed.) When I bump against those who believe and practice their faith differently, I am to be humble in my approach. I am to quietly state how I believe and follow the teachings. To engage in arguing and attacking them leads me away from the path that I am called to walk. 

The gate is narrow. May it be opened for you. The path is narrow. May it be revealed to you. More than that may you come to know “the breadth and length and height and depth” of God’s love for you.

 

I wept for my Father

The first time I wept for my father was when he died. He died with only his wife and two of his three sons by his side and his older sister. There was no one else in his life. No funeral, no memorial was held. The Chaplin of the local Armed Forces base, the one he retired out of, came and led us in a short prayer for him.

        I wept of what had become of his life. In the end, he was alone. Those who gathered to witness his passing had done so mostly out of obligation.

Most of my life the relationship with my father has been as complicated as it was strained. As a young child I remember being almost ecstatic when he came home from work. Then, life changed. The structure of the army, that had kept him functional, had been replaced with the anesthetic of alcohol. It did not take long for him to deteriorate into the mayhem of alcoholism. By the time I was seven I knew we were in trouble.

        My father has been a target of my derision and pity for most of my life. My father was not a passive participant in this process. There were glimpses of compassion, I realized he was a damaged soul. This was a result of coming terms with my own addiction to alcohol and other drugs. I realized that if I did not choose that life, perhaps my father had not chosen it either. Yet, I knew my life had been irrevocably altered through my experiences with him. I resented him for the hardships that had become more than visitors in my life.

Most recently, I wept on Remembrance Day. To say my father survived the Second World War would use a broad definition of ‘survive’. He had been in a vehicular accident and had been left for dead. It was only when the body recovery unit came to collect him that it was realized that he was still alive. He had suffered a massive brain injury. What other traumas he experienced I have no idea. The man that came home was not the same man that went to fight. Of course, that was before my time. I never knew either man. 

       He did talk of one incident. Of a young boy who had discovered a carelessly overlooked landmine as a training facility had been closed. The young boy had died playing with it. It has been only recently that I have appreciated that when he came to talk of the traumas that he would have experienced, this incident with the boy was first and foremost. I am sure there was so much else. 

        Much of my resentment with my father arose out of who he had become. Slowly, he deteriorated into a bitter, angry, and violent man. This overshadowed the times he did show up in my life to make a contribution. What was remarkable about him, was that despite however he might have been a mess at any given time, he pulled his act together whenever a young child was in the room. Perhaps it was the memories of when life was not so difficult for him. 

        Perhaps it is age. Perhaps it is understanding that I have less sunsets to enjoy. But I grieve not for the loss of my father, but for the loss he would have experienced. As awful as parts of my life may have seemed, it must have been worse for him.

        Today I prayed for him. I am not sure if it does anything. Does it bring comfort to his soul? I don't know. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes of being ‘baptized for the dead.' Perhaps my prayer has been a salve to his soul, maybe to my soul. Another step forward as I trudge the road of recovery, restoration, and righteousness. 

What has changed? 

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

Psalm 20.7 & 8

Well the election is over. Most of you who will read this will be disappointed in the results. I am. I think there is good reason to be anxious. There are those for whom life will become harder. For this I have no doubt. 

            For me, the biggest concern are those of us who claim a citizenship in the Kingdom of God thinking that a man, or a woman for that matter, elected to any office would be God’s appointment. While Paul tells us to not resist our authorities, this should not be construed that God has chosen that person. What God has appointed is the idea of governance.  The authority at that time was the Roman Empire. Their brutality was remarkable. In the same passage in Romans (13.1-7), he also writes, “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.” Although God has appointed the authority of governments, our obedience, our allegiance is to God and his Kingdom.

So what has changed?

In reality, nothing. Life may become easier for some, more difficult for others, and more dangerous for others. Yet, nothing stands in my way of what is important. Nothing stops me from acting in love towards my neighbours. Nothing.

            A few days ago, I posted a comment:

“As the world fights to figure everything out. I’ll be holding doors for strangers, letting people cut in front of me in traffic, keeping babies entertained in grocery lines, stopping to talk to someone who is lonely, tipping generously, sharing food, giving children a thumbs-up, being patient with sales clerks, smiling at passersby. WHY? Because I will not stand to live in a world where love is invisible.

            Be kind to a stranger, give grace to people who may be having a bad day, be forgiving with yourself. If you can’t find kindness, BE kindness.”

          

Nothing has changed. In fact, if anything the need for me to be kind and loving has become even more important. But nothing has changed in what I am to do in the world.

            We can, and must, still speak up for those who are considered the least. Going Old Testament, I can, “Do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.” Isa 1.17 This is beyond politics. 

Anyway, that is my opinion.

The Parable of the Long Spoons 

One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”

God showed the man two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with many dishes of wonderful food. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and though each found it possible to reach whatever they wanted, because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. Although the man looked at God questionly, wondering at his cruelty, God simply said, “You have seen Hell now I will show you heaven.”

Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the same large round table with many dishes of wonderful food that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The man said, “I don’t understand.”

God smiled. “It is simple,” he said. “Love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While those in the other room thought only of how they could feed themselves.”

– attributed to Rabbi Haim of Romshishok

 

 

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

      But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,

    will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

                                                  John 14.26

In the Goat Herder’s Guide we are told not lean upon our own understanding. To do this, to use our own judgment, will lead to our missing the opportunities that present themselves to us. As we learn to “walk in the spirit” we can only imagine what is next in our lives. Far too often what we do is that we baptize our perspective on life and call it Christianity. In my effort to fit the Gospel into my life, I simply find new justification for old behaviours and ways of thinking. Thus, nothing changes, and if nothing changes, then nothing changes.

We need a guide, we need something to help us to decide what is the next right step. It is admirable to have a final goal, a destination we keep in sight. It always comes down to what is the next right step. This is not to suggest that there is no place or role for our own imagination or judgement. Part of our having the nature of God is our ability to discern. We all carry a base understanding of what is right and wrong, what is beneficial or harmful. Yet, like a Michealangelo sculpture, we are works of love in progress. We lack the perspective and we lack the design. For this, we need to rely on the master artist.

In our world that stresses self-determination, of charting our own course, the idea that we do not know what we are to do is considered offensive. The idea that we follow a path charted by another is laughable. Undoubtedly, there are those that have charted their own course, and have become successful. I think these would be the exceptions as opposed to the norm. I feel fortunate that my journey began within the wreckage that addiction had made of my life. That starkness provided clarity. Also, I am grateful that I encountered a fellowship that offered a way out. A way out that required daily seeking of direction.

We have the Holy Spirt, the Advocate, the Councillor, to guide us in what is the next step. This is the master artist. I need to abandon my confidence in how I perceive the world as being the “correct” vision. I am grateful that far too often my sojourns of self-directed passion have ended in embarrassment. It keeps me humble. It keeps me more open and reliant to the leading of the Spirit.

There is a truth that lays behind what I am writing. We don’t know what we don’t know. I might have an idea as to what the final destination might be. As probably you do as well. The truth though is that I don’t know what the next step should be. These days, trials and missteps have led me to understand that I don’t know. There was a time that I did not know that I did not know. Now, I know that I don’t know.

This process continues all through life. U2 came out with the song, “I still haven't found what I am looking for.” I have seen Christian pundits criticize this song, saying that we need to have a place where we land, a truth we can stand upon. And we do, if our faith was simply a punishment avoidance strategy that would be enough. We are called to a journey, our own exodus. Our life in the Spirit, while being grounded in faith, is to remain a process of discovery. While we might find places to rest, we are always called to make the next step.

It remains a process that is led by the Spirit.

Anyway, that is my opinion

You are Loved

        It is a total misunderstanding of the Gospel that has us live in a perpetual state of repentance. The message of the Gospel is that we are loved. It is disturbing how we get this wrong in our lives. Our life in Christ might start out in the darkness. Yes, our journey to the light might have started in utter darkness, a bankruptcy of the heart and soul. There is the moment of realization of regret, this moment of repentance is necessary in order to say goodbye to the darkness. In order to say goodbye to a life that is based on self-will we need to grow sick and tired. We have to understand the degrading and destructive nature of the darkness. We can only do this through understanding what it has done to us, what we have become. We need to understand that who we have become is not who we were intended to be. We were not who we were created to be. We need this need moment so that we do not look back with longing. That moment, often longer, is not where we are to stay. 

        I often think that the hardest aspect of faith is to trust that we are lovable. To believe that what has created us loves us. I also believe that it is not our “wickedness” that God grieves the most. It is our lostness, our belief that God does not love us, that is the source of his mourning. The Gospel is that God’s love was most clearly displayed on a cross millennia ago. That we construe this act of love as being an act of justification for punishing us shows the level of our disbelief that who has spun us into being loves us. 

        Our path of growth is towards being a light unto the world. (Matt 5.14) It is not becoming something or someone who we are not. This is who we were intended to be. Those beliefs and behaviours that have become habits are not, I repeat not, who we are. Our path of growth is gently embracing who we are intended to be. Paul tells us that who we meant to be is obvious. (Galatians 5.22 & 23) We cannot be these if we live a continual apology. We are called to treat those around us, and ourselves, with love, compassion, and gentleness. The ground of this way of being is understanding we are loved beyond measure. It is this experience that draws towards God. It is love that draws us towards being a "new creation." It is coming into joy that moves our feet on the path. It is love that keeps us growing. It is the light of love that attracts others.

        This love also is our compass and guide. When we think we have failed to be who we are, it is love, not fear, that will restore our direction.

You are loved.

Anyway, that is my opinion.

 Speak hope and mercy, speak justice and truth, say what you believe that will heal and help. Now is not the time to be quiet, for there is an ocean of listening all around you,  waiting for the word of life. – Steven Charleston

        If you are of the opinion that the creation story in Genesis is an accurate rendering of events, I have some disappointing news, it isn’t. When we treat this story as the literal truth, we miss the Spirit that moves within its words.
        “And God said…” is one of the key areas where we miss the truth that lies within the words. God, being omnipotent, could have chosen any method of creation, but he chose to use speech. Theologically, this ties in with Jesus being the creative force of God, thus he is the “word.” But there is a deeper significance behind God speaking the world into being.  

  It is often said that people will not remember what you said to them, but how you made them feel. There is some truth to that, but it also sets aside a truth. Those moments of deep regret that I have are based on how I made people feel, always resulted from what I said to them. It is through my words that I can hurt or heal.

The lesson behind God speaking the world into creation, is understanding that we create by what we say. Yes, it is important to listen, people need to be heard. But what we say is equally important. What I say expresses who I am in the world, who I chose to be. It is through what I say to you, that expresses your worth. It is through our words that we create. By choosing well my words I can create beauty.

First, we create for the person to whom we are speaking. Even in the brief encounter with a cashier, or someone we pass by, or hold the door for, we create. Our words can offer a respite from the word around us that seems to be increasingly angry and isolating. Those we meet are all listening for words that let us know that we matter, that we count. When it is us that have spoken those words, it is a blessing.

Secondly, we create for ourselves. Our words also impact us. Especially on those days when we ourselves might be feeling fearful and discouraged. A kind word echoes back like rings on a pond. The response in the person in front of us, creates in us as well. As it has been said, “The world is full of kind people, if you can’t find one, be one.”

We are told that in the beginning God created the world through speech. We are also told that we are created in the image of God. By this, I believe that it is in our ability to create that makes us divine. We now can create by speaking into being hope, mercy, and love. By doing so reminds us that we are not powerless within this world. It is by our words we create.

Anyway, that is my opinion.