Matt
5: 14 – 16 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be
hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they
put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way,
let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and
glorify your Father in heaven.
At one point in our lives my wife, who is
Buddhist, and I sold women’s dresses; men’s dresses are called Kilts. We would sell at festivals, and events. It
was a great job. One time we set up shop
at a fair in the Fraser Valley. We
arrived, and set up our booth, and then I went home to get changed and pick up
a few more things. When I arrived back,
my wife came up to me, and with a concerned look on her face and said. “The
woman next to us thinks that God lives in her heart.”
At
that time I also worked with kids with psychiatric illnesses, so my wife was
curious as to what was up with this woman.
I walked to the booth next door to find that it was a Pro-Life
presentation. I chuckled and walked
back, and explained that the woman was a Christian, and that by saying that God
lived in her heart, she meant that she tried to keep Christ in the centre of
her life. My wife looked at me, one of
those Canadians are weird looks, and went back to arranging dresses.
The
woman next to us had no idea how odd or arrogant she had come across. To my wife it was preposterous that God would
live inside of a person. To me it seems
not that we bring God into our lives so much, but we are brought into
relationship with him. While it is he
who reaches out to us, it is us who moves.
I don’t think we invite Jesus into our lives, as much as we surrender to his presence.
While
there are those that may think I am protesting too much about mere semantics, I
think it is an important difference. It
seems to me that there is something a bit off about Christianity. I would include myself in this. There is a focus on a self-centred personal
relationship with Jesus. And I don’t trust
our, my, ego-centric view of my faith.
I
am struck that as I sit with my Monday Night Coffee Confusion and Conflict
group – also known as a community group – that my focus is on what is happening
in my life. I reflect on how things have been in my life,
my company, my wife, my kid, and my concerns. While I think self-reflection and
introspection are important spiritual practices, I believe I am called beyond
the concerns of what is occurring in my own life.
Yes,
in asking for me to be brought into God’s grace, I have invited him into my
life. But in a very real sense I have
invited him into your life. And into my family’s life. And my neighbour’s. And my community’s.
We
have gotten carried away with concept of the individual. Yes, I think this has come as a backlash
against the systems of filial loyalty that saw obedience to the family, to the
church and even our countries taking precedence over morality. It has led to some rather horrific
practices. And it was Jesus who said “If
anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my
disciple.” But it could it be that he
was calling people to adhere to different principles than obedience to family?
Much
to the credit of my Monday night community group, we involve ourselves in
community outside of the church. We also
work on being supportive with each other.
And I, every so often manage to have a less myopic view of the world and
ask for prayers regarding others.
It
is the aspect of self-centredness that most bothers me. It is within that self-centredness that evil
flourishes. It is when I view myself as
being separate and more important than you that I can do nasty things to you. And yet I see, and I include myself in this,
so many of us continuing our self-interest into our faith. I believe so that I can reap the benefits of
a life with the Lord.
St.
Paul would believe that it is through my faith that my family is saved. 1 Cor 7:12
– 14 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is
not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live
with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been
sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified
through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as
it is, they are holy.
We
are called, you and I, not to have individual lives in the Lord. We, you and I, are called to be the body of
Christ. Our faith is a communal
effort. The early Christians were a riot
– they were known as Atheists - because they were without the gods of the roman
empire. They were also known for their
profound love of each other and the community around them. They were known for their overwhelming
concern with the world around them.
Jesus
also warned that “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its
saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything,
except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”
To
me this is more than just an admonition not to lose faith, but to realize that
it is through our faith that the world is made a better place. We are called the salt of the earth – salt at
that time was not only used to preserve food, it was used as currency – salt
protected and gave value. Could it be, that by our faith, we lend value to the
world, that just by nature of having Jesus in our lives that we make our world
more liveable?
Jesus
also told us, “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked
after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Of
course this is a call to be missional, but not as the one who announces the
condemnation of the world, but rather those who bear the grace, mercy and love
of our Lord Jesus to those around us. As
well, the call is more for my benefit, and you who get to view the inside
workings of my faith are invited to ponder such as I have this week.
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