| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | The very end of the section "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann ends with what I think is a good way to begin the week. If we are seized by the Spirit of the resurrection, we get up out of our sadness and apathy. We begin to flower and become fruitful again, like the plants and trees in the spring of the year. An undreamed-of love for life awakens in us; we drive out the sweet poison of resignation, and our painful remembrances of death are healed. We encounter life again like children, in eager expectancy. This is not a questioning "if". It is an "if" that is more like a "since" or a "considering the fact that". It is what is. The Spirit of the resurrection does seize us. We may fight like hell to get away from it and crawl into another life that seems like it will be best for us but that does not stop this Spirit from residing among us. When I am within the bounds of the land of sadness, I know that there is a short step into the domain of apathy. I do not like to be there. And yet, when I am dragged there - I go there. It is overpowering and it can take the best of the day or life and make it all seem worth-less. And yet, we are told again and again that the Lord of all hopefulness is eternally available to us for life. The life has a shape to it even when we are are sinking so low we do not want to wear its baptismal robe and rise again to new life. Only the Spirit can heal us and cleanse us when that 'sweet poison of resignation' is pressing in and will not stop. When those tears filled with fear and sadness and an unknown despair that makes no sense and is yet so real - are at hand, it is time to breathe. Breathe simply for the purpose of taking in this promise of healing and wholeness and child-like joy. Connection: What do you do when you are being sucked dry and there doesn't seem to be any specific reason or any specific way of stopping the sucking? Maybe step one is to acknowledge that it is real....and wait to see what the Spirit throws out into the way. Renew us, O God. Breathe life into us, O God. Restore us, O God. Bring your Reign of peace among us and within us. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | It is the end of the week so why not offer a bit more on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. Since the raising of Christ from the dead, the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of resurrection of the dead and of eternal livingness. The Christian hope is foundationally and in essence the hope of resurrection. In this it is universal, and expects what Hildegard of Bingen finely calls the ultimate 'springtime of all creation'. This ultimate springtime of creation is experienced here and now in the Spirit in the charismatic quickening of our own life and the life we share. I just received some strange e-mail quoting the book of Revelation and trying to pin down a precise meaning to the gospel. It is obvious from the e-mail that the writer of it takes the book literally and cannot see the fullness of words and images that is meant to free up our view of God's gracious Reign so that it is not captured and melted down to one "gotcha" kind of theology. Having said that, I am once again caught up in the wonderful 'now' of this 'springtime of all creation." Rather than having the Good News wrapped up for a day that will come - sometime, we are invited to be wrapped up with this time at hand. Here and now the hope of the resurrection is the power of transformation and renewal. There were days when I did not like the word charismatic. I think it is because I was once sold on a version of that word that really wanted something other than what is. We were always planning on going somewhere else. But now, this word of grace (charis) becomes more of a reality check. Is this Spirit of resurrection bringing life to me and you today? Yes it is - so let's live within it. Connection: The dead - all of us - will be raised up to new life. That is a universal promise we must stop refusing to hear in all of its power. Lord of New Life and the Spirit of Resurrection, take us along the way within your promise and be our source of comfort and transformation both now and forever. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. What do we hope for? It is true that the experience of the life-giving Spirit of god does rouse us to dissatisfaction with disturbed and false life which has missed its mark, and awakens an ardent longing for the true life. But this hope is not turned toward a world beyond this one, or towards heaven, in a flight from the world in which we live. Our hope is addicted to the future, and it looks for the coming of God's kingdom 'on earth as it is in heaven'. What an interesting way to look at hope - our hope is addicted to the future. It certainly grabbed my attention - like apocalyptic writing. It grabs but it is not exactly the fullness of the concept. Hope is not addicted to the future. Hope is more than the future. We tend to have ways of attempting to control the future and therefore we might just be addicted to our own vision. Addiction is never a good word in my book - it means something is out of control or one is possessed by something other than life itself. I would expect that Moltmann is using such an image to make sure we know that hope within the Reign of God is a complete gift that grabs us and will not let us go - no matter how hard we try. This hope is grounded here - now - in the moment and in the moments to come. Nothing is to be saved for latter. I guess the addiction image is good in this respect. For someone suffering from addiction, there is no later and there is no waiting until we go over there - it is all about now. Hope therefore, is about now. How is the now of our lives made full of this Spirit of life that is all about the Reign of God wholly present? Connection: It is not all that easy to become fully engaged in the 'now' with our whole life. It is here and now that the witness of the Reign of God takes place. It is now that martyrs come to life and show us the way into the fullness of the living Reign of God. Carry us into your life, O God. Surround us with the power of your Spirit so that we will be moved to be awakened to your power. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. For Orthodox mysticism as Gregory Palamas taught it, the light that shone on Tabor transfigured not just Christ's soul but his body and clothing too (Matthew 17:2ff), as a visible anticipation of the 'transfigured body' of the risen Christ (Philippians 3:20), into which 'our lowly bodies' will be transformed. A spirituality along these lines cannot have anything to do with the suppression of the body and the senses, but will already seek here and now the transfiguration of life. This comes about when we open our bodies and senses as well as our souls to receive the Holy Spirit, preparing them to be his earthly temple. In the divine love for life we sense how his eternal living stream penetrates us through and through. Opening our 'bodies and senses as well as our souls' to receive the Holy Spirit is risky because nothing is left out or left behind. When the Spirit takes us up into the realm of new life that is wholly holy, we can never be quite sure what will come of us. Sure we know that we will be pulled into God's Reign. And yet, we do not know what part we will play in that coming Reign - or how we will be transfigured in the midst of it all. Having said that, we are encouraged to come and live within this ever-expanding presence of God's reign. When we say with our whole body and soul, it mean the whole of us - living in the transfigured image of God's people. Connection: Every part of our lives becomes changed and renewed as we enter into the realm of God's grace in Christ, Jesus. Take that to heart. Spirit of God renew us and refresh our lives that we will find in the midst of our everyday life the joy of your eternal Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. The life-giving Spirit must be experienced holistically, with body and soul and all our powers, and must be sought for and experienced in community with other people. That is the promise implicit in being God's image, which is what justifies the expectation of 'the resurrection of the body' and 'the new earth'. 'Through their nature, human beings remain wholly human in soul and body, but through grace they become wholly divine in soul and body,' said Maximus Confessor, the Orthodox church father. More and more I am coming to appreciate the notion of the whole image of God. This is an image that takes in all of us - at one time and through all time. It is an image grounded in everyday life and in the relationships that make up the day. There in the middle of our daily joy and sadness and the strange mix of people and events that may not be what we would expect or like, there is this overarching image. To know that image, I must be connected to others. To see that image and its glory, I must be in touch with others and be willing to learn from experiences that may be quite contrary to the world as I would anticipate it. In this section, do not think of "divine" as something other than what is. Rather, it would be best for us to think of that which in a way that sets it within the glorious vision of God's Reign - the image of God fully alive: body and soul. Connection: It is not easy to see the image of God in the other person. Yet, without seeing it in the other, can we be so sure that we see it at all? Take another look. Creating God, surprise us again within the faces and lives of those around us so that we will begin to experience more and more of the fullness of your image and your Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann. Is there such a thing as a mysticism of the soul without a mysticism of the body? No, every good meditation begins with eutonic physical exercises. Every healing of the soul begins with movements of the tense body, so that hurt and sick souls can become one with the body again. Is there a spirituality of the individual, closed to the world and other people? Of course to be alone can be a step on the road to oneself, if society has robbed us of our freedom and alienated us; but individual spirituality is never there without the spirituality of the community, just as the spirit of a community is never determined other than by the spirit of the members. In 'the fellowship of the Holy Spirit', individuals do not dominate the community, and the community does not dominate individuals. I find this to be one statement that is most in line with how I look at spirituality. In reading previous sections of this book, I really had this feeling - but here he says it. There is no separation - our spirituality is us: all of use and each of us as one. The followers of Jesus are not isolationists. We participate in life alongside others and in conversation with other. What is mystical is not that which is beyond us. Rather, what is mystical is what is so close at hand that we too often fly past it in pursuit of something else that we think is more than what is already. I have used the words urban mysticism to describe what I see as a journey into the everyday of life that is no farther away than the room in which I sit right now. Here, heaven and earth come together and we are made welcome into the wholeness of God's Reign. This doesn't mean you cannot go off on a pilgrimage to distant place and experience some solitude and isolation. It means that one need not do that in order to be pulled up into the wonder of life that captivates and inspires. There are many ways to see again what is so obvious and so available. The very physical life that surrounds us can be repulsive. And yet, it is a part of the fullness of life that brings us another glimpse of God's face. We need not be afraid of the common, the ordinary, the less than perfect, the irreverent, the dirty, the spontaneous, the orderly. This is it and we are in the middle of it. Connection: Come and fly within the day at hand and experience what is so easy to walk by and ignore. Holy Spirit, come and take us for a ride within God's Reign throughout this day. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | Unfortunately, once again this blog site has out smarted me and did not let me save all that was written yesterday. Therefore, I am resending Moltmann's stuff and adding a comment that obviously didn't make it yesterday. Again, we jump to a new section of "The Source of Life" by Jurgen Moltmann called "New spirituality: life against death. Who is God's image? God is known in the whole and entire, mutually related, and hence also bodily and sensory community of men and women, parents and children, and in other social relationships. It is not just the individual who is to correspond to God and reflects his vitality and beauty, it is the whole human community. It is not only the direct experience of the self (if there is such a thing) which is the place where we encounter the living God; it is rather the social experience of the 'Thou' and the responding 'I'. Our God creates community. We are not created as just one - single "I". In the storytelling of Genesis it is humanity as male and female. I read that as a sign of the essence of community. This is who we multiply and create the image of God in the world. This male and female creation is not meant to be an exclusion. Rather, I would submit that it is to teach us that all things within God's Reign rise up out of community. Therefore our spirituality is bound up in all that hold us together. We are on an adventure. To be a lone soul within God's Reign is impossible. We live and breathe as a people. When we are together from the fewest of us to the great multitudes, we enable ourselves to catch the vision of whose we are and who we are to become. It is necessary to have this very physical, very real collection of people. Here we have to deal with others and -because of that- deal with ourselves. Our self-centered wonder as to who we will become must be abandoned for the wonder of who we become within relation to others. Connection: What are you able to see -of yourselves and God's Reign- when you are involved with others? Again, Gracious God, lead us into the way of you blessed community. Amen. |
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