Tuesday 23 October 2007

A bit more of a look at suffering and prayer in life.



It is not that we have a message and then suffer for it. It is much more the opposite: We suffer, come through it transformed, and then we have a message! This is the clear Jesus pattern and why he trained his disciples in the necessary path of suffering. There is something, it seems, that we can know in no other way. We hope to bypass such suffering by being moral, by being orthodox, by being ritualistic, but his words remain the same to us: "The cup I must drink, you must also drink" (Mark 10:39). Enlightenment, conversion, seeing the truth is a journey of transformation, not membership in the right group or reciting the correct formulas or even practicing the right morality. ...only God's Spirit of love can transform you.



Isn't this what has become so popular in the cultural religious experience of our day. We side step the suffering of life that becomes the path of transformation for something that can be reached now held onto as though we have made the journey and we are now new. I heard someone last week say that people don't need to be reminded of the cross and our sin and the life that we are invited to enter with and on behalf of others. Rather, being a Christian becomes all about me...what I want...what I need....how my pain can be taken from me...how my political agenda can be met. I especially see this in how strongly religious groups in the U.S. claim that they are to claim and own and shape the great power of our country. Unfortunately, those without power are often left out of that vision. The only way you become one of those on the side of the power is to join in their way of success (that is often disguised as being blessed) and call upon the gods of their way. We will find no cross in life among such groups.



Connection: Sometime during the day, attempt to see the world from the perspective of those who really have no power. It may being as a simple exercise - maybe even painful. Then again, it may be the beginning of a whole new way of seeing and living.



Lord of the Day, you make us new and we are transformed by how your love becomes our love. Thanks be to you. Amen.