Month: February 2021

This is the Critical Time

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This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15) or Now is the time you have been waiting for. God’s Kingdom is breaking into history. Change your mindset and your way of seeing. Believe the Good News.

Jesus follows up on the mission of John the Baptist, whom Herod has imprisoned, adding a sense of urgency to the message. This is the moment! God is acting in accord with the divine promises to bring about what God (and we) most truly and deeply desire. What does this compelling invitation require of us?

This is the critical time – the only time we have. We need to be here in this present moment, awake and ready to respond to whatever God asks of us. We can’t afford to become lost, trying to redo the past or striving to preview the future before it even arrives – pretending that we can penetrate the veil of the fearful unknown that has not yet come to be and somehow undo it. Both worry and fear drive us out of the present moment, which makes our life more difficult. This being here, now takes practice and discipline.

The fullness of what God wants for the wellbeing of all people, all creation, is waiting for us to claim. God is inviting us out of the quagmire of sinfulness into the divine Kingdom. The biggest and most inclusive dream of humanity, and that for which our hearts long, is ours to embrace. Why would we continue to cling to our own tiny illusions, when such an incredible treasure is directly in our path? We need to act. We need to choose God’s way.

Whatever stands between us and God’s desires for us needs to be taken down. Whatever within us that holds us back from wholeheartedly welcoming the fullness of life that God offers needs to be released. Repent is not, first of all, about removing all the little (and big?) sins in our life. Repent (Greek metanoia) is a radical interior transformation, a complete change of mind and heart: putting aside our favorite, familiar, comfortable patterns of seeing and judging everything. God, through Jesus, calls us to let go of our way in order to let ourselves be led by God’s Spirit. If we repent in this sense, the pull of that which separates us from God (i.e. sin) fades.

Perhaps the big sin we cling to is partial or conditional belief. We wonder if God is truly all and only good. Doubts can arise, especially in trying times, about how trustworthy God is. We want so much what seems to be unimaginably good, yet we can so easily talk ourselves out of accepting the possibility that such goodness exists – especially in the face of so much pain, suffering, evil. The Good News is that God is goodness itself. The Good News is that God is Love. (1 John 4:16)  And the love of God is for all. Believe the Good News. It’s for you.

 

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Don’t Even Think About It

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We have a tendency to try to domesticate God. We keep building structures that cannot possibly contain the Absolute. Like attempting to put an infant’s onesie on a massive weightlifter (not a pretty sight), God does not fit in our churches or temples. Even less can we encapsulate the Ultimate in our concepts, precepts, ideas, doctrines or dogmas. We are unable to force or manipulate the Holy One to dance to our tune no matter what strategies or ruses, charm or con we employ. We cannot enclose Mystery in a book, bottle or battle-plan. God is not impressed by what we consider a virtuous life, and is not depressed by what we name as a sinful life. Limitless Mercy, after all, has the first and the final Word. God remains wild and free – untamed – by nature. 

Remember how badly David felt living in his palace of cedar, while the Ark of God, symbolizing the divine Presence among the people, remained in a tent (2 Samuel 7)? Let me build you a fitting house, the king proposed. Let’s get one thing straight, countered God (through the prophet Nathan), without Me you would still be out in the fields tending your dad’s sheep. Don’t even try; don’t even think about trying!

We get into trouble when we try to anticipate or second-guess God. It is God who always makes the first move, approaching us as we stumble through life. It is God who speaks and great things happen. It is God who invites, urges, encourages, comforts and consoles. It is God who self-reveals in completely human terms, in Jesus. It is the truly Sovereign One who engages us and entrusts so much to us. It is up to us to simply, humbly follow God’s lead – one step at a time.

The Lies We Tell Ourselves

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We would prefer to not deal with tough situations that demand decisive action. We get so comfortable with what we know, what we’ve always done, how things are – in all their brokenness and imperfection. They’re familiar (like family) to us. Facts can seem disturbing, uncomfortable. To honestly and directly face our habitual blind spots would require that we do something about them – that we change. This type of change, a real transformation, feels scary and difficult.

So we make up lies to justify our inaction. And we do this not only individually, but also socially, and corporately (as groups and organizations). There is a (misplaced) sense of security in putting prodigious effort into maintaining a status quo. This outpouring of energy can become our whole life. We are only trying to avoid pain, disruption and appearing needy. We just want to guarantee that some short-term benefit keeps distracting us. We are willing to deprive ourselves of what we most deeply desire in order to stay right where we are. We want to put off, as long as possible, the transformation that we need to be truly whole – to be really well.      Lies come in handy.

A problem with relying on falsity is that only truth has a place in the Kingdom of God. Truth is a requirement here. We would like to be able to have it both ways – to have one foot in our skewed little realm and one foot in God’s Kingdom of healing, of freedom, of peace (Shalom). We need to choose and to accept the consequences of our choice – to cling to our lies or to enter fully into God’s loving embrace and to live true to the genuine, amazing person God knows us, and calls us, to be.