"The Glory of God in the Face of Christ"

Throughout the Bible, God displays divine glory.  God shows this glory in many ways--in the beauty of creation, in miracles and wonders, in the giving of the Law, but most fully in the face of Jesus.  John 12 (NIV) relates Jesus as praying:

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voie came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

What did the Father mean, that He had glorified His name, and would do so again?  Perhaps the first glory was that of the Law, but the second, better, glory, was that of the grace of God through Christ.  Or, maybe the incarnation of Christ was one kind of glory, and the coronation of Jesus on the cross was the second.  Or, the first coming was one glory and the second coming is the one to come.  Who knows--but regardless, it is clear that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's glory. This is why Paul writes:

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:1-6).

Today, Jesus' glory should shine brightest in the face of his followers.  Unfortunately, sometimes by their actions, Christians damage the reputation of God by their own actions instead of bringing God glory.  It should be the goal of every believer to shine like Moses did with the presence of God (Exodus 34:29-35).

Today, I'd like to suggest a meditation in which you invite the glory of God to shine in you.  

If you are using the Protestant (Anglican) prayer beads:

• Invitatory: "Let light shine out of darkness"
• Cruciform: "The glory of God in the face of Christ"
• Weeks: "Father, glorify your name."

If you are using the Roman Catholic rosary:

• For the "Our Father" bead: "Let light shine out of darkness"
• For the "Glory Be" beads: "The glory of God in the face of Christ"
• For the "Hail Mary" beads: "Father, glorify your name."

In both cases, say each phrase on the exhale and let the glory of God fill you on the inhale.  Feel yourself being filled with the glory of God.  Then, when you are done, go into the world and let your soul shine with God's presence.  Glorify God with your life, and let others see Jesus in you.

Never Alone

Today, I'd like to share with you a bit of writing that is not my own.  This is from Tensions, by H.A. Williams.  It is published on pages 29-30 of A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants.  The Upper Room: Nashville, TN.  1983.

God is no longer the Friend I meet, the Father with whom I hold converse, the Lover in whom I delight, the King before whom I bow in reverence, the Divine Being I worship and adore.  In my experience of prayer God ceases to be any of these things because he ceases to be anything at all.  He is absent when I pray.  I am there alone.  There is no other.

If this experience persists--and is not the effect of 'flu coming on or tiredness--it means that something of the greatest importance is happening.  It means that God is inviting me to discover him no longer as another alongside me but as my own deepest and truest self.  He is calling me from the experience of meeting him to the experience of finding my identity in him.  I cannot see him because he is my eyes.  I cannot hear him because he is my ears.  I cannot walk to him because he is my feet.  And if apparently I am alone and he is not there that is because he will not separate his presence from my own.  If he is not anything at all, if he is nothing, that is because he is no longer another.  I must find him in what I am or not at all. 

Psalm 16:7 (NIV) says, "I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me."  This suggests that there are times when I am communing with myself, that I am really communing with God.  Not that I am God, but that I am in God and God is in me to the extent that when my heart instructs me, it's really the Lord who gives me counsel.

As I practice contemplative prayer, entering into silence and sitting alone, in the silence sometimes I find only myself--but in communing with myself, I also have fellowship with God.  In this, I am never alone.

The Blessing of Descent

Luke 10.30-37 

Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

In the story of the Good Samaritan, we read a lot about the blessing of descent. The traveler is going from Jerusalem (the high place of worship) DOWN to Jericho (remembered as the city whose walls became a heap of rubble). This symbolizes the both physical descent in altitude as well as descent from the pinnacle of spirituality, down to the once pagan city that was the first one conquered in the Promised Land. On his way down, the wayfarer is set upon by robbers, beaten, and left DOWN on the ground. The high-born people, on their way UP to Jerusalem pass him by, but the LOWLY Samaritan comes DOWN off his donkey, bandages his wounds, puts him UP on his own animal, and takes him to an inn to receive care.

All of this is to illustrate the Greatest Commandment, to show the legalist how he could love God not by piety but by loving his neighbor. Jesus literally tells him to get off his high horse and become a servant. If you want to have a hero, Jesus says, emulate the lowly Samaritan rather than the "upstanding" priest and Levite.

By this story, Jesus demonstrates that the pinnacle of our divine experience isn't RELIGION, but RELATIONSHIP. God is far less concerned with religious activity and Temple mentality and Temple practice than He is with compassion and mercy towards our fellow human beings. Loving my neighbor is loving God, because Jesus said, "Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me."

Surrender as Atonement

                When the American South declared its independence from the North, it decided that it was its own sovereign nation.  It printed its own money, elected its own president, and established its own capitol.  In establishing the Confederacy, the South committed treason and broke the Union of the United States.  The resulting war cost more lives than any other American war.  Then, finally, when the South reached the end of its resources, the Confederacy surrendered to the Union at Appomattox.  With this peace accord, the war was over.  Yet, there were still battles fought even after peace was made.  Because news did not travel fast, men died in defense of a Confederacy that no longer existed.  Even once news was broadcast everywhere that the Confederacy was dead, rebel flags continued to be flown.  Throughout the South today, the Stars and Bars fly in defiance of the North.  Though the war is over, the South has never forgotten.  Though official peace has been made, the way of the rebel still remains.

                When humanity declared its independence from God, the resulting war broke the union between heaven and earth, claiming untold souls.  Yet, in his own blood, Jesus drafted the peace treaty that broke down the dividing wall of hostility.  Through Jesus, the war is now over.  Sin has been defeated.  Peace has officially been made.  Yet that doesn't mean that those who are ignorant of this peace have quit struggling against heaven.  Some, those who have never received the news of peace, continue to fight as if in a war.  Others, those who have raised the white flag of surrender, still occasionally replace that banner with the battle flag.  These little rebellions have no eternal effect, because they cannot undo the peace enacted by the cross.  They can, however, impede our witness as people of peace.  Being like Jesus means practicing the art of surrender.  This surrender becomes the way of atonement.

In the garden of Eden, Adam became the model of brokenness and our need for atonement.  In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus modeled surrender as the way of atonement.  In Adam’s fall, the first man demonstrated rebellion against God.  In Jesus’ submission, the Savior displayed surrender as the path to union.  Surrender breaks down the dividing wall of hostility so that God and humanity become one.  Jesus shows that surrender is the way of peace.  He calls believers to live a life of surrender as well.

Perhaps nothing models this surrender more than Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane.  Mark 14:35-36 says, "And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, 'Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will'.”

Today, make that your One-sentence prayer: "Not what I will, but what you will."  By practicing surrender, we find atonement, at-one-ment with God.

Contemplative Christmas

The Christmas story is full of contemplatives.  Zechariah gave ear to the archangel.  Mary responded to God’s heavenly messenger.  Joseph discerned God’s will through dreams.  Shepherds echoed angelic voices in their praise of God.  Wise men followed celestial signs.  Simeon and Anna prophesied what they heard from the Holy Spirit.  All of these required one thing: contemplative believers who were willing to take the time to listen to God.

In this busy season, taking time to listen is not always a priority.  There is food to cook.  There are parties to plan, gifts to buy and wrap, worship services and children’s plays to attend, and so many other things that compete for your attention.  Yes, even religious observances can become just another thing to crowd out your spirituality, if you allow it.  Somehow in all of this, we can’t find the time to simply sit in God’s presence and listen to the Divine Voice.  But just as there could be no Christmas story without contemplative people, light can’t come into our souls without a Silent Night. 

Luke 2:19 (NASB) says, “But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.”  This holy season, take the time to treasure the Truth that God brings to light within you.  May the presence of Christ will be born in you, so that you become attentive to the Holy Spirit’s voice.  As you ponder these things in your heart, take time to be still.  Take time to keep silence.

Follow the Father

A few days ago, I was at a friend's house, watching him change the brake pads on his jeep. I wasn't the only one watching him. His three-year-old son was also watching. Will didn't just allow Wyatt to watch--he involved him in the process. He let the boy hold his shop light while he crawled safely into the wheel well and inspect the brake pads with the scrutiny of a toddler. He helped him remove and replace the pads, talking him through the process each step of the way. It reminded me of Jesus, who said in John 5:19-20 (ESV):

Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

Just as Will showed Wyatt how to change the brakes on the jeep, Jesus said that the Father was showing him what to do. He paid close attention to every detail so He could perfectly follow the Father's will.

Now, we're not Jesus. We're a bit more like toddlers, trying our hands at something that's really too complicated for us. But the Father is patient with us, demonstrating His love again and again until we get it. When we think we're turning the wrench, we are unaware that His strong hands are holding ours. He lets us help, and He helps us learn. Then He trusts that one day, when we're more mature, we'll be able to do it ourselves. I pray today that you'll be like Jesus, that you'll follow the Father, that and that you'll let Him lead you to even greater things.

Mustard and Yeast

Luke 13:18-21 (ESV)         
18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Jesus' parable of the mustard seed is about four things: willingness, rooting, spreading, and nurturing.

The faith of a mustard seed is about willingness. It does not seek to control its environment. Neither does it try to be something it's not. It is content with being such a tiny seed. When used poorly, mustard can overpower any recipe that it's in, but when used properly it enhances flavor beautifully. The faith of a mustard seed is willing to be used humbly, without the need to over-assert itself. The faith of a mustard seed is willing to grow.

Growing means reaching both upward to the sun and downward to the earth. The seed doesn't know which way is up and which way is down, but something directs it.  That something is God.  As it grows downward, being rooted and grounded in love, the seed receives all the nutrients it needs. As it grows upward, it gets sunlight and rain which feed it. It grows and spreads, just like the Realm of God does, until what was once a tiny seed has become a great bush.

Jesus said this bush becomes a shelter for all kinds of birds. It's not just one kind of bird but all kinds make their nests in these branches. This nurturing means being a shelter for people, and not destroying them. It means accepting their weight upon my branches and their waste on my roots.  Having the faith of a mustard seed means that this kind of nurture comes naturally, because I am rooted in Christ and receive his energy like the rays of the sun. This love then extends from myself to my family, community, country, world, and universe.