A Thimble Full of Grace
It’s really had an impact on me to focus on one idea and one piece of scripture for so long. It’s also really had an impact on me to look back on the whole series and try to coax some larger realizations from it. I tried to unpack one such realization this past Sunday as we looked at different ‘layers’ or ‘levels’ of wisdom. It seems that there is a kind of wisdom that leads us to life improvement, and then there is a kind of wisdom that pushes through life improvement (to an improved use of your life) and that the deepest wisdom (perhaps) is that we simply just get out from behind ourselves, period. Rather than get better at life’s spin cycle, we finally just step outside of it all together. It’s something that may be worth turning into a large focus in terms of life change.
However! Another layer of challenge has come to mind over the past few weeks that I would put along side last Sunday’s challenge and even push it further. It’s something which is both (1) deeply meaningful and (2) critically important, and it has to do with the ‘person’ of Christ. We have to take steps to make sure we are not simply just extracting wisdom from the Jesus story and never really connecting with the person of Christ. If all of this ‘stuff’ becomes just another ‘life technology’, then we’ve missed the most powerful part. We haven’t just strained out gnats to swallow camels… We’ve traded a thimble full of grace for the Pacific-ocean sized possibilities of connecting with God on a personal level.
Jesus described Himself as a polarizing figure. He said He would be a dividing point. He said He would be a stumbling block. He said He would be the ‘capstone’ (the most important part) which is overlooked. And Paul writes that His story would seem like utter foolishness from one perspective (outside it) and compellingly powerful from another (within it). (1 Corinthians 1:18-19) Clearly the person of Christ, Himself is the central, defining issue as we consider growth, wisdom and our lives as a whole.
Let’s be sure that the end of all our discussions on wisdom we don’t miss the most important part. All the wisdom in the world is not more important than the one who made it. Perhaps the ‘personal’ side of spirituality has lost it’s appeal to our ‘modern’ or ‘post modern’ sensibilities so that it’s become more about philosophy and life-management… Nevertheless, I find myself longing for a ‘presence’, not just a philosophy. I don’t just want His footprint – I want Him. I don’t just want the effect of knowing Him – I want to live radically in the fact of being deeply connected with Him on a personal level.
It’s Christianity’s great and audacious suggestion: that not only can we hear about His story but we can step inside it and live it with Him.
I almost always end by saying ‘it’s something to consider’. This time I feel compelled to add ‘I really hope you do”…
Have a great weekend,
Chris
However! Another layer of challenge has come to mind over the past few weeks that I would put along side last Sunday’s challenge and even push it further. It’s something which is both (1) deeply meaningful and (2) critically important, and it has to do with the ‘person’ of Christ. We have to take steps to make sure we are not simply just extracting wisdom from the Jesus story and never really connecting with the person of Christ. If all of this ‘stuff’ becomes just another ‘life technology’, then we’ve missed the most powerful part. We haven’t just strained out gnats to swallow camels… We’ve traded a thimble full of grace for the Pacific-ocean sized possibilities of connecting with God on a personal level. Jesus described Himself as a polarizing figure. He said He would be a dividing point. He said He would be a stumbling block. He said He would be the ‘capstone’ (the most important part) which is overlooked. And Paul writes that His story would seem like utter foolishness from one perspective (outside it) and compellingly powerful from another (within it). (1 Corinthians 1:18-19) Clearly the person of Christ, Himself is the central, defining issue as we consider growth, wisdom and our lives as a whole.
Let’s be sure that the end of all our discussions on wisdom we don’t miss the most important part. All the wisdom in the world is not more important than the one who made it. Perhaps the ‘personal’ side of spirituality has lost it’s appeal to our ‘modern’ or ‘post modern’ sensibilities so that it’s become more about philosophy and life-management… Nevertheless, I find myself longing for a ‘presence’, not just a philosophy. I don’t just want His footprint – I want Him. I don’t just want the effect of knowing Him – I want to live radically in the fact of being deeply connected with Him on a personal level.
It’s Christianity’s great and audacious suggestion: that not only can we hear about His story but we can step inside it and live it with Him.
I almost always end by saying ‘it’s something to consider’. This time I feel compelled to add ‘I really hope you do”…
Have a great weekend,
Chris
posted by Leigh at
4:31 PM
7 Comments:
“I don’t just want His footprint – I want Him. I don’t just want the effect of knowing Him – I want to live radically in the fact of being deeply connected with Him on a personal level.”
I hear the words… they feel ture.. yet, for me, they remain words…
What does it mean to be deeply connected…
the words go beyong meaning beyond knowing…
must we feel our way?…
We live in the time of the feeling mind, feeling become truth, but I don’t get it.
I feel it all and so I feel no-thing.
By
Anonymous, at 9:11 PM
Hi Chris,
Just responding to you point: “Perhaps the ‘personal’ side of spirituality has lost it’s appeal to our ‘modern’ or ‘post modern’ sensibilities so that it’s become more about philosophy and life-management… Nevertheless, I find myself longing for a ‘presence’, not just a philosophy. I don’t just want His footprint – I want Him. I don’t just want the effect of knowing Him – I want to live radically in the fact of being deeply connected with Him on a personal level.”
I think I must start of here by saying - I'm over 50 and I like your red shoes(thought you should hear that).
Not only that but I've heard a lot of religious stuff (happens when you've been listening this long). Most of this came from people of various ages who tended to wear black shoes, striped ties, 46 inch belts and large warm smiles.
About me: I believe in the real God, the real Christ and have experienced the reality of a relationship, and I like it that way – the relationship. I am trying to hold a lot less religious bags than I have in the past, but need a little help. So here’s a few questions for you (from a 50 something heard lots religious stuff skeptic who loves God anyway):
Question 1: Is a relationship really possible with the creator of the universe? What does that look like for real(not for religion)? And how do I keep it real, or get “realer” than who I once was about it? And does it matter?
Question 2: I really appreciated your insights about science and various other comments in the past couple of months. So, another question I have is about heaven; tough one … but here goes. Where exactly is it? If it is a physical place(ie; where Christ lives, who is a human – with a resurrected body).
Question 3: As I mentioned, I like astronomy and science in general. So, as I look at the earth and our life here relative to all that, my mind very often wanders to the absolute marvels of a God who built all this(way too complex and elegant to be random) ... a God who has put us on an earth specially built to support us ... that is moving millions of miles an hour on a path through the universe that goes ... where?
To me this is like the heaven question, except it is the opposite, it’s a physical thing going somewhere we don’t know. Heaven is a physical place we’re going to without a known mechanism to get there.
So … the question is: what really is the mechanism to get to heaven? How does it work? How can I do it? Do I have to get washed in your tub to get there or memorize a chapter of the Illiad?
Question 4: Heaven is a place … a place we “all” seem to know exists, but no one seems to know what exactly is there. So then firstly - how do we know? And secondly what really is there? And if no one knows then - why is so much taught about it by such a large number of unknowledgeable people? (ie; the bible says so little about it?)
Question 5: Who exactly is the God(person) who built all this? Is this the “Person” that most of 6 billion people believe in? Or is it the God that only Christians believe in? Or is it the God of 144,000 people? Or … only the special spiritual few who can and do connect with the Creator? And if God is limited in someway by us, then how big is God anyway?
To me, God is really big and really obvious to all. And I think we connect through so many things, including every physical thing he created … and on the spiritual side through prayer, and on the relational side through people and the act of love for them. To me Person that created all this is a God who loves, because we all know who he is … and we all expect love. It’s not that tough. But somehow we(and me) just can’t stay focused on that.
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Anonymous, at 11:22 PM
My earliest religious memory is being told not to think so much, just believe. Say the right words, if only so you don’t make others uncomfortable. For years I became very good at saying the “right” words even though my experiences seldom matched the words. (The words create the experience, the experience the personal connection, except it doesn’t happen because the words don’t match the experience and so the connection doesn’t happen…. )
Has Christianity become a religion of words. By saying the right words the words will create the experience. “If only I had his or her faith then I would feel what it is that they seem to be experiencing.” I wonder how many Christians aren’t feeling the experience after saying the right words. I suspect that for many this is a source of shame, guilt and frustration. The default answer, ones faith is not strong enough, try harder, don’t think be…. Does God still harden hearts?
Ok, Chris isn’t saying that Christian philosophy and Christian life management skills aren’t important, only that the ‘personal Christ connection’ which is of more import, seems to be lost in our times. He seems to imply that the problem is that the personal connection isn’t desired. But what if the issue is the difficulty in creating and or maintaining that personal connection? I don’t even know what “personal connection” means today! Maybe I’m not alone? The ‘personal Christ connection” doesn’t appeal to our “modern sensibilities” not because it’s not wanted but because we have lost touch with the ability to create the connection. It is truly harder to receive then to give.
I’m being told about the importance of a personal Christ connection, a connection that will change the way I manage my life and recreate or define my life philosophy. But then not to let the philosophy and life management skills become just about the philosophy and life-management system and so miss out on the personal connection of which is not likely without the proper philosophy and life management skills! Uggggggg
A Buddhist is often described as ‘practicing Buddhism” meaning they consciously exercise specific practices in order to achieve some end. Do Christians practice? Catholics can be “practicing Catholics” meaning they attend church, but do Christians consciously practice?
Why is it that when a Christian seeks a specific practice, beyond prayer and devotions, that it’s viewed as a threat or wrong?
I know, I’m looking for something more specific and that’s not the way. I must develop the Christian philosophy and life management skills without defining them and so loose my way. I must recreate my story and then forget that it is a story.
One must work for that which no work is required.
By
Anonymous, at 2:05 PM
Chris,
Thank you for your words that I read today on connecting with Christ and not just a life management system or philosophy!
I've found that I can so easily be swept up in "doing right", but it's not until I'm quiet and alone with my thoughts and God that I can actually hear His spirit and enjoy His presence.
I don't know if anyone else here has ever struggled with the very question of whether or not there is a God (I did!) but I think that's a good place to start. I believe that we need to question our faith and test it out so that we can have an answer for the hope that is within us.
Mere Christianity is a book that spoke to me deeply about the logic of there being a creator. Once I had the head knowledge and belief in God, and Jesus, it then took His spirit to speak to me in order to take that step of faith.
Continue seeking, guys, because you WILL find Him. Don't be afraid to ask Him the tough questions - He's good to answer!
Blessings to you!
By
Anonymous, at 7:06 PM
If one wants to dance, taking lessons can be helpful. The desire to dance may not be enough in and of it self, depending of course on the hoped for out come. Is it enough to just enjoy movement or is the desire for creative movement or movement with purpose? Philosophy, life management skills and personal connection are interwoven together each building each other, a time for each in its turn. Life balance is a myth, balanced we do no move.
Context matters - The Broken Windows theory holds that ignoring the little problems -- graffiti, litter, shattered glass -- creates a sense of irreversible decline that leads people to abandon the community or to stay away. I have heard a few people puzzling over the fact that punctuality at Westside is poor. People tend to show up plus or minus 20 minutes. But its not really that surprising. At Westside the services start at 9:29 and 11:11, a symbolic gesture that moves worship out of the domain of a specific time, the odd times indicating that a specific time is not important…. Context matters.
What am I trying to say… at times I feel their is a hierarchy between the personal Christ connection (ideal) the philosophy and life management skills, one movement better then the other when they are all interconnected. A broken window in one impacting the other. A hierarchy can get in the way; the longing for one with out the support of the others creates a weak foundation
By
Anonymous, at 9:51 AM
I agree longing to dance or desiring to dance is not the same as dancing. Longing for a personal connecting with out the life philosophy and life management skills to back it up and or build it up will likely not come to anything. I don’t however think that Chris is suggesting that longing is enough.
I share the frustration though; each of us has a unique psychological needs and way of learning and it often seems that the Church tends to cater to the feeling part of ‘love God with all your heart and your entire mind’. It’s easy to feel like you don’t belong when you don’t experience what it appears to you that others are experiencing and wonder if everyone is just pretending or something is wrong with you. It quickly becomes complicated, is the longing for the experience or for the personal connection with Christ? Is the longing for connection to community or God or just being seen, known..? D - all of the above? Tie that in with the how and it gets messy.
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Anonymous, at 1:50 PM
About the point of: being late and "9:29 and 11:11, a symbolic gesture that moves worship out of the domain of a specific time, the odd times indicating that a specific time is not important…. Context matters."
I really like this - because it is not a performance, it is more like a party. If there's someone at the party you want to meet ... then be there early. And if you'd rather just fade in as things are well underway without much of your effort ... then come a bit later. BUT, make sure you come!
At the party though - "longing to dance or desiring to dance is definitely not the same as dancing" for much the same reasons.
Bottom line, if you want to dance with Christ- you don't need a church; you just need to talk with him. Bridging this step can be the hardest part, whether it’s in personal times with Christ(or anyone) … or at the Westside party.
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Anonymous, at 12:27 AM
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