Consistency.

Consistency matters.
It matters because without it, what you say (and do) means nothing.
If you say one thing, and do another, you're a hypocrite.
If you advocate for a policy, and vote against it, you can't be trusted.
And all too often, consistency can't be felt, seen, or heard.

Specific to politics and faith, I find an increasingly inconsistent pattern among right-wing-voting-christians (which is how the majority of christians vote - Republican).  This inconsistency is branded across the Church and perception becomes reality - that christians are either ill-informed, can't make a consistent and intelligent argument, or are just plain hypocritical.

On one hand, christians will overwhelmingly support other christians in politics (usually right-wing), so that politics resemble the ways of Jesus, biblical truths, etc.  They believe that electing more christians will make our nation christian once again (essentially that christian leaders will enact christian laws).

And most christians will also agree that Jesus came to earth, and lived his life to show grace and mercy to those that didn't deserve it (i.e. sinners, the sick, etc.), and that he came first for the marginalized, the poor, the blind, and "the least of these." 

However, when the government enacts policies and social programs that extend similar grace and mercy to the least of these, christians overwhelmingly call them "entitlements" and say that the government has no business in these matters.  So either the government is or isn't in the position to act and dispense policy, based on the christian faith.  They cannot have it both ways, because consistency matters.

In the same light, liberals (which most overwhelmingly support our President, and democrats) cannot remain consistent in their anti-gun/violence messages, while also remaining silent when the government is using drones attacks at an alarming rate and when our policies place assault rifles into the hands of Mexican drug lords.  The liberal message of non-violence has no backbone.

My point is this...there must be a true separation between church and state.  This is a good thing.  Because when the perceived "christian" candidate on one hand argues for life in repealing abortion rights, yet funds the military and supports capital punishment on the other, there is no consistency.  Likewise, when a liberal fights to pass laws that control the sales of arms (to "save even one life"), but systematically places these same weapons into the hands of Mexican drug lords, there is no consistency.  In both scenarios, I believe that arguing for life and saving life most closely represents the way of Jesus.  And in both scenarios the politics of the state become the voice of the church - either in support or criticism.  By separating faith and politics, the United States is not the mouthpiece of Christianity; and when it behaves in less than Christ-like manners, one is not co-opted by the other, and consistency is not in question.

Because no matter which side you find yourself, consistency is lacking - and when left unchecked, both sides become impotent to truth-telling and agenda.  Consistency matters because without we nullify any resemblance of intellectual honesty and debate.  And without consistency, we all become hypocrites.

Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (PART V - Stability & Interruption)

Stability

One way in which we can begin to move toward a healthy understanding of contemplative prayer (and life) that the scriptures points us towards, is to practice stability.  Jonathon Hartgrove writes, “the practice of stability is the means by which God’s house becomes our home…the ground of stability is always God’s grace.  But the stability God invites us into is a practice that entails a way of life.  To dwell in the house of God is to be transformed into people who know the ways and means of God” (Hartgrove 2010, 17).
   
Stability is not economic provision, secure health care, and properly functioning cars.  Stability deals much more closely with the notion that “we are suspended between heaven and earth on a ladder that promises communion with God but is also planted firmly on the ground…it is a commitment to trust God not in an ideal world, but in the battered and bruised world we know” (Hartgrove 2010, 24).  Stability cannot overlook community.  It is attached to community because it’s in the house of God that we create a home, a foundation for our faith, and we ultimately put our trust in God to sustain us in that community.

                                                 Interruption
The individual that seeks a contemplative prayer life must practice interruption.  He/she must become aware that out of a contemplative prayer life, transformation happens, reorients, creates new realities, and challenges assumptions.  This might sound the opposite of stability, but instead is a foundation for stability and contemplative prayer.  As Christians, we are participating in a faith that at its genesis is about transformation, change, restoration, and renewal.     
   
Interruption then works hand-in-hand with stability, because at our root of stability is the yearning for change and transformation.  This becomes our goal.  We are seeking the face of the God that transforms and doesn’t leave His children unaffected.  As we participate in contemplative prayer, we notice God in each situation and scenario as moving its participants in a direction.  Contemplative prayer enables us to holistically interrupt status quo and participate more fully in His kingdom, by knowing the heart of God. 
   
This is not an easy task.  We often enjoy uninterrupted stability in our jobs, our homes, and relationships.  But in Christ, we cannot stand still.  Part of culture’s lie is that our identities are tied to the ladders we climb.  How high we can get tells our story and defines us.  However, in contemplative prayer we are satisfied that our identities are in Christ alone, that we proclaim a new metric for whatever “success” may be, and that being with God is more important than becoming one. 


Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (PART IV - Now & Into the Future)

If contemplative prayer is such a counter-cultural spiritual discipline, how does one begin the practice?  Richard Rohr explains that we must begin living lives of contemplative prayer by “living and fully accepting our reality” (Rohr 2003, 18).  He continues to explain that “we do not find our own center; it finds us…we do not think ourselves into new ways of living.  We live ourselves into new ways of thinking” (Rohr 2003, 19).  Our lives circling the circumference cannot be escaped – they are our stories.  But the path around the circumference can indeed lead us to the core reality, “where we meet both our truest self and our truest God” (Rohr 2003, 19).  It is true that we do not know what it means to be human, unless we know God, because we are created in His image.  Thus, we cannot know God unless we know our own brokenness and suffering. 
   
The notion that Plato and Aristotle posited of knowledge leading to our ability in controlling nature, we have reworked our societies to prosper in this way.  We have even turned our spirituality into a results-based-faith.  The lie is that successful churches are mega-churches, and that the same economies of the world echo God’s economies.  But “spirituality is about seeing.  It’s not about earning or achieving.  Its about relationship rather than results or requirements” (Rohr 2003, 33). 

You don’t need to push the river, because you are in it.  The life is lived within us, and we learn how to say yes to that life.  If we exist on a level where we can see how everything belongs, we can trust the flow and trust the life, the life so large and deep and spacious that it even includes its opposite, death.  We must do this, because it is the only life available to us, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, “You have died [the small ego self], and the life you new have is hidden with Christ in God [the Godself].  When Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him” (Col. 3:3-4)  (Rohr 2003, 34-35).

So if we are to truly believe that we are in Christ, we must assume that the totality of life’s experiences is contained in contemplative prayer.  We must work to align our hearts and minds to this truth.  We must accept that every moment is spiritual, that all ground is holy, and that every interaction has eternal significance.


Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (PART III - 2012)

We live in a culture of hyper-creation, productivity, entertainment, and consumerism.  Our identities are directly tied to how much, how fast, and how good we can make things.  Rather than seeking muses, we seek amusement.  Our technologies lull us into a rapid-paced rat race of multi-tasking and create an input/output-culture.  All of this can easily become antithetical to the contemplative prayer-life we discover throughout scripture and the early church.  And 2,000 years after Jesus uttered His contemplative prayers, we read them from the edges, and often lack even the most basic understanding of how to begin to attain this vital spiritual discipline. 

But if we are to reclaim a thriving relationship with our Creator as described in John 15, we must break the habitual cycle of production, entertainment, and consumerism.  We must learn to seek His face, even if it means returning to ancient practices.  We must be salt and light in a culture that follows an altogether different metric for measuring economy, love, relationship, creation, and identity.  As we embrace a life of contemplative prayer, we will surely become a people set apart, made in the image of our Creator that intimately knows the heart of God, by seeking His face.

Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (PART II - The History)

The scriptures are riddled with instances of people seeking God with all of their beings.  They often removed themselves from the hecticness of their daily grind, their tribe, and their work, to seek God’s face, God’s will, and to understand God more intimately.  In the Old Testament we are introduced to the practice of Sabbath rest or Shabbot.  This word literally means, “to stop.”  God set in motion a day for us to re-center, to stop, to be still, and to listen – and it was good! 
   
The Old Testament uses the words hāgâ, which means to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ, which means to muse, or rehearse in one's mind.  We see throughout the Psalms (specifically Psalm 1, 4, 5, 7, 19, 32, 39, 42, 43, 46, 49, 63, 130, 137, and 139) this contemplative-meditation taking place.  The book of Joshua also reminds us the importance of contemplative prayer (Joshua 1:8).  God’s people are seeking Him in contemplative prayer, and God is showing them His way.  Nations and tribes are thus transformed into the people of God.  They become His exemplary to the entirety of humanity.  And surely their participation in contemplative prayer plays a vital role in this unfolding. 
   
In the New Testament we can simply look to Jesus as our clearest example of one who embraces the practice of contemplative prayer to become one with His Father.  Jesus is often found in the garden alone praying.  Before his capture and execution, Jesus is recorded to have spent time alone in the garden of Gethsemane in stillness and prayer.  He advocates a practice that leads toward Trinity. 

I will not leave you alone; I am coming back to you. In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me; because I live you too will live. When that day comes you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. (John 14: 18-20)

I have told you these things while I am still with you; but the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name; will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have told you. (John 14: 25-26)

We find in Jesus, a contemplative prayer life that brings Him closer to the Father through the Holy Spirit, and he couples it with a promise that as we too seek the Father in contemplation, that “the advocate” will join us.  Finally Jesus tells us that, “Anyone who dwells in me, as I dwell in him, bears much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4).  If I am to bear fruit, I must dwell with my Creator. 
   
The practice of contemplative prayer continued to flourish throughout the early church.  But nearing the time of Descartes, in the seventeenth century, it began to wane.  Once the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle propped up the belief that “knowledge became an instrument for controlling nature in order to produce the effects we want,” it gradually disappeared (Allen 1997, 104).  This change led to a theoretical and technological belief that nature was controllable, manipulative, and that through hard work, study, and understanding, man was in complete control of all areas of humanity (Allen 1997, 104-105).   

Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (Part 1)

“We are a circumference people, with little access to the center.  We live on the boundaries of our own lives in the widening gyre, confusing edges with essence, too quickly claiming the superficial as substance” (Rohr 2003, 13).  Rohr paints an accurate picture of humanity and culture.  He supposes that our lack of centering, keeps us distracted, and nearly satisfied by life’s superficial offerings.  But there is hope to become centered.  There is a path to reclaim the essence of being with and seeing God face to face.  That path is contemplative prayer.

Contemplative prayer does not have a prescribed definition, but includes many facets of spiritual discipline and life.  Perhaps its more appropriate to first outline what contemplative prayer is not.  Contemplative prayer is not “about leaving this world.  It is not an otherworldly experience…Contemplative prayer is not exclusively for monks and nuns…it is not necessarily easy” (Thibodeaux 2001, 2).  Contemplative prayer involves talking at God, talking to God, listening to God, and most importantly being with God (Thibodeaux 2001, 17-30).  Allen writes that, “in the contemplative life, we become like God through knowing God’s wisdom, which increases our love for God and in turn our love for our neighbor” (Allen 1997, 97).

*this is PART 1 of 9

Peace,
Ross

The Ordinary Radicals

Here's a quick snippet of a documentary called, The Ordinary Radicals.  Its a call to Christ followers to actually live, practice, and embrace the model of Jesus.  Its fantastic, and you can watch it FREE now on the Roku channel, ADC.



Peace,
Ross

Is Denominationalism Just a Friendly Word for Isolationism?

Today I want to talk about isolationism. 

Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, foreign trade, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by avoiding foreign entanglements and responsibilities.

Simply replace "country" and "nations" with "denominations" and "churches."

For much of my upbringing I participated in a church who held certain denominational beliefs, doctrines, and methodologies closely at its core.  It only participated with other churches of the same denomination, studied from similar denominational curriculum(s), participated in missional efforts only sanctioned by the larger denomination, etc.

Isn't this a form of isolationism?

The fear I have today of denominationalism is that it puts up blinders to anything different.  It assumes that YOUR world is THE world.  It sees things in rather black and white terms. 

But isn't the world a diverse and incredibly grey?

As a Christian, I feel as though to assume that Baptists or Lutherans, Presbyterians or Methodists, Catholics or Pentecostals, have "it" figured out, I build unnecessary boxes that limit my ability to see the massiveness of what God is doing in, and throughout the world.

Today the fastest growing movement of Christianity is in the global South.  The global South doesn't represent many of the similarities of the Western church.  They are much more mystical, pentecostal, embracing of miracles, etc.  Suppose that the Western church writes off this movement by isolating itself into our preferred denominations, we will certainly miss out on the massive Christian movement going on throughout humanity.

I hope that as you peruse your studies, literature, curriculum, and missional work, you will work to never become isolated to your preferred denomination.  Conversely, may we be diligent in always assuming God is bigger than Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, etc.  May we be diligent in the fact that there is a beautiful mosaic of denominations which each shed light on varying aspects of Truth.

Peace,
Ross

Connecting Dots : Google Robot Car, Journey, & Kingdom...

I'm always looking to connect dots.  On Tuesday I read THIS, an article about Google's first ROBOT CAR being licensed in NV.  The technology behind the new Google Robot Car allows for safe navigation to one's destination. 

Once you get past the cool sci-fi images in your head (think The Jetson's, Total Recall, iRobot, Minority Report, etc.), you have a new way to travel: safe and destination-bound.  Its an instant gratifying mode of transportation that eliminates the white-knuckles and attention that's required of driving, right?

But like a lot of technology (and I LOVE innovative technology!) we're working towards instant gratification - in this case destination.

Here's a few other totally random examples (and I'm really trying not to demonize any of these, but rather just point out how we're a culture of "destination.")

Facebook - when you lack true visceral community, it provides a virtual destination

Discovery/Travel Channel - I have actually heard people argue, that they don't really need to travel anymore, because they can just watch Discovery or the Travel Channel

RockBand - when you don't have the motivation, time, or finances to learn to play an instrument or take the lessons, you can simply strap on the 5 color guitar and wail away on your favorite Zepplin tunes!

Pornography - sexual intimacy without the relationship

The common missing factor I see in each of these, is the journey.  Relationships take time, energy, pain(s), and effort.  Travel requires planning, money, learning new languages and cultures, and potential dangers(s).  And intimacy requires a great deal of relationship, trust, and vulnerability.  These are all hazards of the journey.

Now going back to the Google Robot Car, we literally eliminate the journey.  Where I used to dread the night drive in the rain, the white-knuckled journey up a snowy pass in Colorado to get to a music venue in time for sound check, or the navigation it would require to make it through a big city I'd never traveled before, I can now conceivably enter my destination coordinates, sit back, and enjoy a DVD on my iPad, or have a virtual conversation via Facebook.

But I have a feeling that I'll miss the adventure and the attention it requires to participate in the journey.  I believe that it's in the journey that we really grow, and become who we were created to be.

The earth is an amazing place.  I believe that in this earth, the Kingdom of God is breaking-in all around us, and I'd hate to miss it, because I simply phoned in my coordinates.  (Ah-ha, another dot being connected)

The journey is one reason I refuse to sing "I'll Fly Away" anymore.  It's a song about leaving, being gone, hoping for the destination, and not embracing the kingdom-journey, here, now, and today.  There's harm in destination language, without being coupled with the trials of the journey.

And that, my friends is why I enjoy connecting dots.

Peace,
Ross