Words about "The WORD"

At the risk of alienating half of the Christians who post on the internet, I feel the need to raise an obvious point. John Chapter One, that amazing chapter on incarnation says this:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

Now, we hear lots of talk about the "Word of God." A lot of the time, people use this phrase in conjunction with the Bible. But I don't think John is referring to a Bible here. Seems to me he's talking about Jesus Christ, the true Word. So when I use the phrase "Word of God," I'm talking about Jesus. And with many other people of the Reformed faith, I refer to the Bible as a testament to Christ, the True Word Incarnate.

So for me, scripture consists of inspired words that attest to the true Word--words about the Word. I suppose, in a very convoluted and obtuse way, I could be seen as being in agreement with all of the religious folks who insist that people believe in the inerrancy of the Word, since I absolutely affirm the inerrancy of Christ the Word. The scriptures say he was tempted in every way but did not sin. I think that qualifies as inerrant.

As to the inerrancy of scripture, well, I respect these words as the best and most reliable account of God's workings in the world and the best witness to Jesus' inerrant life and ministry.
I believe these inspired words to point us to the perfection of God's use of incarnation to save us fallen humans who cannot help but err. But if you don't mind, I'm going to lift up Jesus as the Word of God--rather than scripture.

Can Ignatius give us a way of experiencing scripture that is Reformed?

In order to decide, you'll need to be brought up to speed on how Ignatius uses scripture in a prayerful, meditative way. And to understand that, you need to know some history.

Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits, came to understand that God could be found in all things. The former soldier to the royal court of Spain, while recovering from wounds sustained in battle, reflected on two books: The Life of Christ and the Lives of the Saints. Through his reflections, he came to see that he was called not to be a soldier at court but a "Soldier of Christ." Over several months, Ignatius developed a series of principles, prayers, and meditations which over time would come to be what we now know as "The Spiritual Exercises." As he took his college buddies through these exercises over the course of 2-3 years, they too became inflamed with love for Christ and became with Ignatius the founders of the Jesuit Movement.

So what does the founder of the Jesuits offer us that is unique? One of many significant contributions Ignatius made to Christian Spirituality was the practice of imagining oneself within the biblical passage one is studying. In other words, while praying and meditating on a passage such as the story of the Prodigal Son, you allow yourself to be placed in the heart of the story and may be a bystander or perhaps the Prodigal, the older brother or the father. In reflecting on the lessons learned in these encounters, a person is frequently able to discern movements of the spirit and learn what God is trying to say to you. At the end of the scriptural encounter, Ignatius has participants engage in a colloquy or conversation with the characters or directly with God or Christ.

Since for Ignatius, God can be found in all things, it is quite alright to enter into these scripture encounters through one's imagination. And while for Ignatius, the encounter will not function as "Word" to you, it can, nonetheless, be used by God to help you understand areas in your life that are problematic or which the spirit seems to be moving you to pay attention to and thus help you move closer to God's will for you. While using the Spiritual Exercises, which are often done as a 30 day silent retreat with a minimum of 5 hours spent each day in prayer and contemplation, Ignatius would have us seek to know the grace that God wishes to impart to us each day (the gift or problem God wishes to make us aware of that can in turn become a focus of our prayers) and pray for God to grant us that grace. Then, during the nightly Examen (a prayerful examination of one's conscience and the movements of the day) one seeks to discern the next grace that God desires for you, prays for God to impart that grace and makes a resolution concerning how the participant will act on the next day in light of the particular grace God has given and the new graces one discerns that God wishes for their life.

The problem for those of us who are reformed is that all of this is done alone in our own spiritual bubble with God. Two safeguards would make Calvin much happier. (1) We should share our insights and experiences of scripture with the community of faith in order that they may help us see where we may be in error when compared with tradition, theology and the corpus of scripture and with Word as we receive it with the community in the form of preaching in the context of worship. (2) We may need to work with a spiritual director, someone whose expertise and experience in walking faithfully with god we trust and, ideally, someone who is trained to listen to our experience of God and see trends both good and unhealthy and suggest ways that we can explore our experience of God through scripture, reading of theology and classic works on Christianity, and the use of various forms of prayer and spiritual disciplines. By acknowledging our need for other members of the Christian community to help keep us from stepping too far off the path in our walk with God, we can grow in our faith and perhaps help others grow as together we explore how God is at work in the world and in our lives.

A Brief How-To

So if you believe that Reformed folk might actually be able to benefit from Ignatius method of meditation on scripture and attention to the urgings of Spirit, how does this actually work? To actually use this practice in prayer, it is good to read the passage first, preferably even the night before praying on the passage so that it is already working in your subconscious mind. Begin the actual prayer by asking God to grant you the grace that you associate with this passage--the thing that God will want you to receive in order that you may move to a closer and deeper walk with God. Then focus on your breath as a gift of God and let the slow rhythm of each breath help prepare you to truly meditation on the passage of scripture. Then ask God to speak to you in the passage and allow your mind and spirit to take you into the story. Notice the details presented to you. Which character are you or are you just a passive observer? What is happening? Is this event identical to the scriptural account? How does it differ? How do you feel during the encounter? Are you anxious, or peaceful? Allow the story to play out. Then engage the characters in conversation. Or speak directly to God or to Jesus, asking what it is they would show you. This whole encounter generally takes at least 30 minutes. When one is actually making the 30 day spiritual exercises, retreatants generally engage in five sessions daily, each lasting up to one and one half hours with additional time spent in reflection and spiritual direction. This is a tremendous way to discern how and where God is leading you at times of transition in your life.

In summary, through Ignatian prayer and the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius teaches us to use imagination, prayer, contemplation and reflection to learn the desires that God has for each of us and to help us learn to allow God's desires for us to become our own. Maybe this is something even we of the Reformed stripe can find useful and edifying.

The full text of the exercises is available at http://www.jesuit.org/images/docs/915dWg.pdf

Calvin and Eucharist: nourishment requires union

I guess you know you're truly reformed when you spend hours reading Calvin on Eucharist just for fun. But the area of Eucharist in Calvin's theology is fascinating and enlightening as it says so much about his view of what the Christian life should be.

Among other things, Calvin says that we can get none of the benefits of Christ's work on our behalf unless we "own him." If we are not in Christ, participating in his work and ministry as we are empowered by spirit, then all the things Christ has done on our behalf are useless to us. Similarly, he says that unless we have already been "feeding on Christ," being nourished by him, there is nothing available to us in the Communion meal but bread and wine. He says sinners may eat the meal but all they will get is bread and wine. In other words, without our being united to Christ and drawing our spiritual nourishment and substance from him, Eucharist is an empty ritual and the elements are just so many calories.

When I read this, I was immediately reminded of John Chapter 6. Jesus feeds the 5000 and the people are following him--but for the wrong reasons. The author tells us that the people believe Jesus is sent by God because of the miracle and that Jesus discerns that the people wish to force him to be their earthly king.Jesus tells them that they haven't understood what he has been trying to teach them. That they are only there because of the bread in their bellies. He says they don't understand that the food he wishes to offer them is eternal. That he is the "bread of life come down from heaven" and that unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood, there will be no life in them. At this, the people argue and say "How can this guy say he's from heaven? Isn't that Joe and Mary's boy from down the street?" And since they refuse to see Jesus on God's terms and insist instead on plugging him into their categories, they can't hear his message and end up walking away from him by the thousands. Verse 6:66 (Ironic numbering) says "From that moment many of His disciples turned away and no longer walked with Him."

Jesus, no doubt feeling rather dejected and rejected, turns to the twelve who remain and ask if they, too, will desert him. But Peter, who sometimes really gets it and at other times fails miserably, gets it right in this case. He tells Jesus "Lord, where else could we go? Only you have the words of eternal life." The twelve realize that Jesus is offering eternal nourishment and that there is no other source. Without Jesus, there's only bread and wine and the constant nagging hunger that carbohydrates and alcohol can't begin to assuage.

Calvin and Peter remind us that Christians starve themselves unless they are continually drawing from the eternal food of Christ. And unless we are truly participating in him, ever seeking his Word and counsel and comfort, spending time in his presence, praying without ceasing, we condemn ourselves to starvation and empty ritual, taking in dry bread and sour wine in a fruitless attempt to fill what Augustine calls the "God-shaped hole in our souls."

So let us eagerly come to the Lord's table, feasting daily on the abundant love and grace he longs to feed us, grafted into his body and engaged in the ministry that he would do in the world. And, like beggars who have hit the mother lode, let us tell all the world of the abundance which we have shared in Christ and invite those starving for meaning and substance and true life into the feast Christ has prepared for the whole world.

Does it have to be "either/or?"

Blogger Jason Stellman posted this morning:

"Evangelicals love Christ the Head, but they're ambivalent about his Body, the Church (except when seen as a place where individuals can gather to encounter God in the same room)."

"Reformed spirituality, on the other hand, cannot abide such decapitation. It is in the Church's ministry of Word and Sacrament that the believer finds the grace that he needs to continue trudging through this wilderness on his way to glory."

"For my own part, all the quiet time in the world cannot replace the faithfully preached Gospel, the bread and the cup, and the communion of saints each Lord's Day."

While I think Stellman's derogatory stereotype of Evangelical worship is certainly not universally true, I agree that quiet time cannot replace the elements of reformed worship that Stellman names. But I don't see why it has to be an either/or situation. Jean Calvin spoke about "mystical union with Christ," the way each believer is called into the ministry and life of the trinity as a result of Christ's incarnation. By taking our very flesh into the Godhead in the ascension, our flesh serves as an invitation to participate in this mystical union. Each us us is called to participate in the ministry of Christ.

Certainly, we can't just go off and have our separate "God experience" without any regard to corporate worship with the rest of the body of Christ. And I certainly affirm the fact that for those of us who are reformed, our chief mode of revelation is in the Word preached in the context of community as we worship together. But that doesn't mean that we check our spirituality at the door after worship.

Calvin, Luther, Bucer, Zwingli and other reformers would certainly call us to a rigorous life of prayer and devotion outside of the context of worship but always informed by it.

Call me crazy, but I think a lively personal relationship with God and participation in the community of faith fed by worship and fellowship and preaching and Eucharist are not imcompatible.

The Jesus Prayer: Even reformed folk should approve

For more than a millenia, Christians, especially those of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, have been praying a simple and effective prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Can there be any harm in such a prayer? The elements of the prayer are certainly in keeping with reformed theology. It affirms the lordship of Christ, affirms that we cannot depend on our own goodness to save us but are ever in need of God's grace and mercy, and acknowledges that even though Christ has accomplished salvation for us all, we still sin and need forgiveness. We reformed Christians (Calvin's miserable worms in need of God) are like the apostle Paul in that we know what we should do and don't do it and know what we shouldn't do and do that very thing. The content of this prayer is hopelessly reformed in nature.

So, if noone of the reformed faith can object to the content, why haven't we taken to this prayer? Two reasons come to mind. First, this is generally a prayer said by Christians outside of the context of community and worship. Since reformed folk ascribe to the view that God's revelation generally comes to us in the context of worship as the Word is rightly preached to the community, we have shied away from individual spirituality. We understand the wisdom of such a view in light of David Koresh and Jim Jones and others who have thought they received a word from the Lord that led to disaster as no community held them accountable or insisted that they examine their revelation in the context of worship, scripture, and tradition. But Jesus himself affirmed the rightness of this prayer when he condemned the self-righteous prayer of the pharisee and upheld the virtue of the tax collector's simple prayer: "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner." In this story, each of these figures was coming to pray to God individually and not in the context of communal prayers. So, surely we can pray such a prayer to God on our own in our prayer closet, whether it be our car on the way to work or in a magnificent cathedral.

The second reason reformed people might reject the use of this prayer is that it is generally said as a "breath prayer," repeated over and over with each breath as a way of entering into God's presence in an embodied way. Reformers rejected much of the formulaic prayer of the Catholic tradition and questioned ritual for ritual's sake, taking seriously Jesus' injunction against the use of "vain repitition" in prayers. But how can calling on the name of the Lord, asking for mercy, and acknowledging our place before Christ and our need of Him be a vain repition? Certainly, at the very least, it is no worse than the weekly thoughtless repitition of the Lord's prayer many in our congregations engage in. And, at best, it serves as a grounding, a spiritual centering in Christ that over and over asserts in our very souls the need for Christ, "in whom we live and move and have our being."

On a personal note, this prayer has gotten me through some tough times. When I received news that my father had suffered a heart attack and jumped in the car to drive the 250 miles between us, I recognized that all things are in God's hands and that I personally was powerless to affect the situation save through prayer. I needed my Lord desperately and depended on his mercy and care in the same way I depend on him for my salvation. So when something inside me prompted me to pray, it was quite natural that much of my prayer for those 4 hours in the car took the form of the Jesus prayer. The result of praying in this way for me was a deep sense of peace, a sense that God was in control, and that whatever I would face on my arrival at the hospital would be alright because Christ would stand beside me.

Fortunately, my father ended up being fine. But I was transformed by that time in prayer and have come to include the Jesus Prayer as a frequent part of my own devotional life in God. Each time I pray this prayer, I experience the peace of knowing that "in life and in death, I belong to God." And I am reminded that we are called to participate in God's ministry in the world through Christ and to get in on what God is doing rather than coming up with our own ministries and hoping God will approve.

Isn't that an oxymoron?

Many would agree with T. Hartley Hall of Union Seminary that reformed spirituality is an oxymoron. It is certainly true that people of reformed faith have historically been very suspicious of any sort of individual spirituality. In his book Reformed Spirituality, Howard Rice says that we are reluctant to even talk about our experience of God. But since we are all called into relationship with God, I think we of the reformed persuasion still have a responsibility to provide seekers with tools to enhance their walk with God. So one of my major goals in ministry is to provide my congregation with meaningful information on spirituality which is grounded in the Reformed Theological tradition reflecting our belief that we are called to participate in the ministry of Christ and that through His incarnation, life and ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension in the flesh, Christ invites us into the very life of the Trinity.


The problem with spirituality

Spirituality is a word that has come to mean all things to all people. But by spirituality, I mean the experience of relationship with God through interraction with God's Spirit in our lives. The whole testament of the Bible and all of the history of God's interraction in our world demonstrates God's desire to be in relationship with us, both personally and in community. Although I agree with the need for community and share some of the traditional suspicion of individual spirituality which has ever been a part of our tradition, I think the reason why Presbyterians are often called "the frozen chosen" is that we have neglected for too long the personal aspects of relationship with God. God really wants to be in relationship with us. Indeed, though the cross has a multitude of meanings, it is quite clearly an indication of the immensity of God's love and God's desire to relate to us, regardless of the cost.

In Christ Plays in 10,000 Places, Eugene Peterson defines spirituality as simply "the Christian life." He also says that if our life is truly in Christ and our ministry is a participation in the ministry of Christ, then the goal of spirituality has to be looking around to see what God is doing through Christ in the world, and then getting in on what God is doing.

That, I believe, is the essence of Reformed Spirituality. And, in addition to Word proclaimed in community, sharing the sacraments, prayer, and assembling together to offer praise to God, I believe there is a place in Reformed spirituality for listening to God and looking for what God is doing through the use of classical spiritual disciplines.

Well, the ceiling of the church didn't cave in and I haven't been struck by lightning so maybe I can proceed with that project.

I'll keep you posted.