Making Room for Mystery

This next bit is not at all mine, it is Digoenes Allen.  I give thanks for good thinkers - and steal all I can.  Same book as before, Temptation.  I doubt it is in print, but may well be.

How do we enter into a relationship like those we long for where we are not treated as a problem to be solved or a puzzle to be understood, but as the complex people that we are?  How do we make room for the marvelous relationship we desire with God and that God desires with us?

Allen says:  "We, like Christ [in his temptations] must make some renunciations before we can move forward..."

Much of what passes for Christianity in my part of the world says, "You've got a great life, you're just missing a piece of the puzzle.  You're simply missing Jesus in your life.  Once you invite him in everything will begin to be put in order."

The story of Luke 4 and the temptations of Jesus says, 'In order to do what God wants in our lives, we must say no to some things.  We must renounce some alternatives for us to make room for what God desires in us.'  Jesus shows us what to renounce.   We must say no to some things to be Christians.

In the baptismal vows of the Presbyterian Church (USA) there are two opportunities for those being baptized to renounce evil and sin.  Though not specific, it raises the point that some things must be left behind for us to follow Jesus.

I believe that one of the thing we need to start leaving behind are systems that would replace relationships.  By systems I mean five steps for this, six guages of that, thirty purposes, or x number of habits for happiness.  By systems I mean all the promises that we can solve the problem of our lives by attending to whatever list is offered.  You see, once we buy into any of these schemes, we buy into a technique, that even though it may name God and Jesus as the goal, ultimately is unable to deliver on its promise.  Because God and our life is not a problem to be solved.  God is not a goal.  God is a person we know in Jesus Christ. 

Relationships are not governed by rules but by presence.  Each time we offer a new device for being close to God, we deceive the people we offer the device to.  This is part of the challenge, the mystery and the joy.  I cannot plumb the depths of God.  I'll never figure God out. I'll only be more intimately engaged and more deeply involved today than yesterday.   Think of marriage.  The reason marriages become static is that we seek to discover the depths of our spouse.  We settle for what we know or even don't know and stop learning.  And we stop caring.

A friend of mine today said to me, "The trouble with all evangelistic tools is that they are replacements for a lazy church."  He was responding to the comment I made about the movie "The Passion of the Chirst" by Mel Gibson.  Many considered it the greatest evangelistic tool of our time.  I agree with my friend.  The point is that it is the Church of Jesus Christ that is God's instrument in the world - God's people, not their films or programs that are to be the ones to demonstrate God's love.

When we make room in our hearts for others, then people come to to know the Jesus we know.  He is no program or a problem any more than we are. Jesus is a person.  The lazy church lets programs do the work of evangelism or caring or ministry. 

To enter the mystery is to act in a way that says Jesus is a person before us.  Enter in to a relationship, a conversation, a walk.  Be with me being with Jesus.  This takes more out of us.  It demands greater time and energy than most of us are willing to expend.  For us to do this would mean renouncing something in the way we live now to make room for Jesus and others.  It may be different for each of us.  But making room is necessary to get on with the journey with Jesus.

Comments

[K Gregory]

Saying yes to more would be a more popular stance, but I can speak from personal experience that just adding Jesus into my life along with all that is already there isn't any kind of answer.

Let me put it another way: If I was already full (yet unsatisfied), then why would I think that adding another item of food, even a dessert, would solved the problem. The idea, I suppose, is to cover up all the distasteful things with the taste of something wonderful (and perhaps chocolatey). However, I have found that this only works for a very short time. It is only while I am eating and enjoying the sweet morsel that I am taken away from the bitter tastes that have filled my belly. Immediately after, I am reminded of my overful belly, and now I become aware of the mistake that I have made by adding to my fullness.

Simplistic, YES, but there is something to it. If we don't say no to something else, then we are merely adding a good thing on top of the rest. Christ in our life doesn't erase all the other stuff. I know that He is capable of any of this, but He leaves it up to us to make room for him. We have to do that by saying yes to Him AND no to something else.

When I became a Chirstian, I began going to church on Sundays. Before this time, I was not keen to the idea of giving up "my" Sundays for church attendance. I thought that my week of hard work had earned that day for my own pursuits. Yet I did give that day away, at least the morning time. I can't say that I miss that time. Yes, I would love some extra time in my life, but I would not give up my time in Worship and Fellowship on Sundays for that extra time. I have found it far more rewarding to be with God on that day than to get things done. God is always there, and my things to do are always there (trust me), but I need God more than I need to tick off a few more things on my list. So I say no to the list on Sunday mornings, and YES to God.

One would think that the natural outcome would be a growing list of to-do's because of the time given up. On the contrary, my list is not longer, but my focus is greater. It is clear that some things on my list weren't even important in the first place. I didn't find this out until I gave up Sunday mornings to be with God.

I've had a similar experience with money. Giving to God's work now has caused me to say no to some other costly things. I had to say no to other stuff to respond to God financially. Again I have found that what has been given up is not really missed. Sure, there are "toys" that I can think of buying with the money, but nothing that is really very important.

It is funny to me how much I held onto. I know that I still hold onto a lot. I can only be encouraged by the results so far. Letting go (saying no) has definitely been wonderfully rewarded. Holding onto everything and trying to add God just doesn't work. God asks for far more, and His rewards are far greater than any reward we can get from adding another thing to our plate.

[Tadeusz]

Indeed, Jesus is a person, and we do need to focus on the relationship with Him, but a problem-oriented view is not a bad thing.

Problems do resolve themselves, but that only leads to more indepth and devious problems that need to be solved. You will never run out of problems to be solved.

There is a principle for the husband who had a wife crying on the couch. Its a commonplace that women and men are different, and that women would prefer to have attention, and men would prefer to solve a problem. The man merely needs to restrain that occasionally, as the woman needs to restrain herself occasionally, and strive to satisfy each others needs. The principle for the man is that often your wife does not want a solution but a shoulder to cry on.

The aggressive problem-solver is the one often tasked with this type of complaint that you have made. I believe it falls under the category of "No good deed goes unpunished." The energetic, striving person is trying hard to accomplish things,and the less energetic person tries to "judo" their energy into a path more suited to the less energetic persons desires.

But you can't just come out and say..."You should do this." Because that requires boldness, and above board behavior, and because it exposes your agenda to critical inquiry. the energetic one is now free to weigh the two courses of behavior and see which one is optimal. And he might not choose the LEP's.

So instead, create a mystery, and a sadness, invite the EP to solve the problem, reject the first few efforts, and eventually the EP is focused on solving things, and the LEP can then spring the answer on them.

Now that is a totally cynical way of putting it. And its probably obvious that I had a recent disagreement with someone (thankfully not anyone near and dear). And I'm not sure that some methods of emotional judo are not justified.

But I think wholesale criticism of someone who boldly strives to do right is not the answer.

And no, this is not a Mary and Martha situation. The hard-working one was following a mistaken principle. But she could have been following a different principle and done better.

And yes, there is a place for simple virtues such as that of Mary's friendship with Jesus. But in the fast river of problems, you learn techniques to deal with them because the simple virtues are not enough if one is not moving very slowly in the river of life.

Now perhaps we should slow down, but thats another arguement I guess.

Tadeusz

[robert]

Over on my blog, www.brightmystery.net, I have been thinking about stuff like this post addresses -- the tendency of the church to follow cultural trends rather than look at the uniqueness of its congregation. I think you said it better than I did, though.

I would add politics to the list of things that the church tends to rely upon other than real relationships with people. Most recently, I've seen churches who are staunchly and vocally in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment -- but never once attempting to reach out to the gay community in their area. Regardless of what you think about the FMA, it seems like at least an attempt to present ourselves as a redemptive alternative would be better than expecting an amendment to the Constitution to do our work for us.