You Who?
As promised here is one of the posts I have had in mind from times spent abroad.
I did some really hard thinking last week. Actually it started the week before that and took root in a conversation Erika and I had with Derek and Rachel, and was reinforced by readings in Brian McLaren's Generous Orthodoxy. It centers on the idea of missionalness...missionality...missionalicitude...being missional. The realization I came to is a hard, hard wake-up call, one that was central to Christ's life and one that has been too oft set aside.
While most agree that Christ's birth and death were ultimate symbols of selfless love (after all, greater love has no one than this...), but it was His life that we are to imitate, and that life was completely selfless. Not a single thing that He did was for His own benefit. Even the "taking time for himself" which we like to remind everyone of was to seek His Father's will. Here is the crux: Faith is not about you. Prayer is not about you. Worship is not about you. Service is not about you. Church is not about you. Giving is not about you. Harsh? You bet! It's the Great Reversal: first last and last first.
The most amazing part about this truth is that it seems too simple to grasp at times. It can't be that easy. Well, it's not that easy, but it is simple. I, for one, am tired of hearing "I need to find a church that meets my needs" and "I need to get my own crap together before I can help others." This is shite and we all know it.
Now I am the first to admit that I am nowhere near Christ's selflessness, but I think that our excuses for our watered-down attempts are runnig out and wearing thin. Ask not what Christ can do for you...yeah, I can't even finish that cheesiness, but look to others first, you're taken care of, your salvation is assured, now work! Let's stop asking WWJD because we already know: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, teach the thirsty, spread love, hope, and charity, extend healing and helping, eat with sinners, talk with outsiders, touch lepers, comfort mourners, replace ritual with relationship...oh yeah, and dying for the sins of the world. That's kind of a tough one to live up to.
In short, Christ's purpose in coming among us was to seek and save the lost, which He accomplished by his death and resurrection, but it was His life that showed us what difference that salvation makes. I guess another way to look at it is that the Kingdom of God is not for the Kingdom of God. It's not a club to get into so that we can reap the benefits or the security. It's an upside-down kingdom, where the even the king subjects himself to those "below" him.
Well, there it is. Let the backlash begin.
posted by Chuck @ 10:06 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
ya know chucky boy, you're blog always makes me think. i like that...its too easy to just go with the flow and never have to examine what you believe and why you believe it. i think you made a good point.
But then why not be selfless about the selfishness of others as well? For some people it is all about them and their needs, and maybe sometimes it should be. And sometimes not.
A few weeks ago, we were looking at Matthew, Chapter 8, Verses 1 to 17, loosely under the heading of "Jesus the Healer." One of the things we noted was the progression of people whom Jesus healed. The first asked for healing for himself, the second asked on behalf of another, and the third didn't ask for anything at all and simply began serving others as soon as she was made well.
If I get your meaning, we should all be aspiring to be like the third person who was healed, serving others as soon as we are able, however we are able. In that I am in complete agreement. But, looking outward, I'm not always sure how to tell when someone isn't actually one of the wounded, needing healing, whether "Christian" or not, whether "successful" or not. Or looking inward, I'm not always sure how to tell when one should be seeking healing for oneself first instead of serving others while still ill.
WWJD? Wrong question, red herring, misses the point. What Jesus did was take my sins and the sins of all humanity onto himself, every hurtful word, every dark thought, every murder, every rape, every lie, every little unintended wound inflicted out of the best of intentions, and made them all vanish. That's what Jesus did. That's what no other could possibly have done.
So from the example of his life, it may be even simpler than being selfless like Jesus, but rather being loving like Jesus. God loves me so much that he sacrificed part of himself in order to keep my relationship with him alive. What he has asked of me in return is that I keep up my end of the relationship, love him, and love those around me.
Maybe there is nothing else I need to do.
Thanks Chuck!
Glad to hear you had a good trip.
I love when I occasionally am slightly selfless and am able to glimpse upon the power of true love. When this happens, one of two things happen. The person who gets some sort of look at this love either thinks I am a nutbag, or... well ok, they always think I am a nutbag, but they either run away as if very scared of me and try to aviod me, or they suddenly open themselves up to me, something i call being "tenderized". Hehe.
Anyhow, your point is a sharp one, one that lies at the heart of Love. Amazing how something so cute sounding can make people's heads explode, and so forth.
I am sorry, I must comment. Winston, I can't help but disagree.
We are called to mission. That's it. Not to enjoy some enlightened experience/relationship with God, etc, etc. It doesn't matter if they SHOULD be healed, or whatever. I see Christ healing indiscrimately in this passage. We, like him, are to work. Often we are given to navel-gazing and the contemplation of the stars from high ivory towers. Especially people like me. It has been on my heart lately that calls us to fundamentally make people's lives better. Feeding, clothing, visiting, watering, etc. A drowning man clambers for flotsam to keep himself afloat. It is not for me to point out that the water is only three feet deep. I pull him out and then if he sees it, good enough. Either way, at least he's not making as much noise.
I don't see complete health as a prerequisite for serving others. If that was the case very few of us would be able to serve, if any at all.
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My intention was not to suggest the need for complete health before serving, or even to question your basic premise that people need to be more selfless. My thought was merely that your encouragement for people to be selfless was so enthusiastic that it struck me as almost negating the self -- my apologies if I misunderstood. Or if you are suggesting a complete or near-complete negation of self, I would humbly raise my hand again.
I think Christians especially sometimes fail to care for themselves, and/or feel guilty for taking that time, out of this drive to be like Christ. But just as it would have been destructive for you not to take some time away and avoid burnout, I merely wanted to suggest that, like the first man in Matthew 8, sometimes it's okay to ask for one's own needs. Sometimes prayer can be about you. Sometimes church can be about you. Sometimes taking time for yourself can be just about you. I would like to think it is okay for me to continue taking two hours every Saturday just to go ride my bike (it's meditative qualities aside), and to sometimes show up at church just needing to be fed. Otherwise my life is about serving others, as it should be.
And Matt, please don't apologise for commenting -- I thought that was the point of putting these conversations out into the blogosphere. But I am confused about the call to mission being "it." I thought the one thing different about Christianity from other major religions was God's grace... that my relationship with Christ, enlightened or otherwise, is to restore my broken relationship with God. And having received this grace, I am commanded to love my God and love my neighbour as myself. It then only follows that I would feel compelled to heal my brothers and sisters, clothe them, spend my life serving them. But the one follows from the other. My relationship is it, and my actions naturally follow. And there are no limits to what those actions might be, when the heart is pure... or purified.
Most religions call their followers "to mission" -- to feed the poor, give shelter to the homeless, sacrifice themselves for the good of others -- and quite frankly those followers often do a much better job than Christians (hence, again, my agreement with Chuck's push for more selflessness among Christians), or at least they seem to. But are they doing it to earn their place in heaven, as it were, doing it out of obligation, and in the worst cases, doing it just to be seen to be doing it?
Our God's grace is by definition without strings -- a gift given and not a thing I could ever do to earn it or deserve it. My mission, it seems to me, is to tell everyone that good news, and thus "to make disciples of the whole world" as they say. And what better way then to show to everyone around me, as close as I can humanly manage, the same love and grace that God has shown me? To help wherever I can, however I can, because I can?
In that respect, I don't think I was ever disagreeing with either of you...
Winston
Oops! Sorry about the clutter. I can't bear my own typos!
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