As a small child I recall many sermons and songs in church that would draw my attention to the greatness and wonder of God. I loved the warmth and love I experienced sitting in the colorful shadow of the stained glass windows.
My childlike desire to be close to God seemed to be instinctual. There was a strong connection and innocent fascination with all things light and good. This intensity of experiencing God's love and presence was a gift that has carried me to this day.
People are searching for peace, love and understanding in this world. Elvis Costello sings a song with the title, " What's so funny about peace, Love and understanding." The lyrics say:
As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity.
I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?
And each time I feel like this inside,
There's one thing I wanna know:
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.
'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.
'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?
So where are the strong? Who are the trusted? Where is the harmony? Thankfully, for the most part I have experienced those gifts in the Church. There are many people that have not experienced peace, love or understanding in the various religious or spiritual journeys' they have embarked upon. Many have experienced disappointment, rejection and disillusionment. This kind of disconnect between spiritual need and spiritual leaders is a dangerous one. Something needs to change at the core of the hearts in order to live out a live connected to God.
Blaise Pascal once said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus”. While people search through various aspects of religion and spiritual practices there is little wonder why much of it falls flat. It is the faith experience of Christian Spirituality that can realistically be the place and catalysts for peace, love and understanding in the world.
What is Christian Spirituality – can you even put those two words together?
The word Christian is defined as a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ.
Spirituality is defined as: The state, quality, manner, or fact of being spiritual.
When I looked up the two words together there was no definition printed, so I took the liberty of merging the two myself.
Christian spirituality is the Christ-seeking and following practice that influences all aspects of life and relationships. It involves a person's surrender to be consumed by God's love, leading to rebirth of God's love in another person's life. Christian spirituality is the drawing in of God through the person of Jesus Christ and the companionship of the spirit. This relationship results in a change of heart and life from selfishness to love.
Over thousands of years and millions of people that claim to be Christians, how many really live out the life of Christ in the world? It can be discouraging to look at Psalm 14 and read the words, " All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." These words cause us as a church and as individuals to take account of the lives and our faith journey with God.
Are we truly seeking God?
There are billions of people on this earth. Many people try to do-good, to help their neighbors and live a life pleasing to God, but it is impossible to earn or "do-good" you're way to being right with God. It is only God's gift of grace that allows for lives to be changed and hearts to be made clean. There can be no man or woman to be found pure of heart and in right relationship with God, except by the grace and patience of God's heart.
According to Puritan Steven Charnock, Paul rejoices in the "Riches of grace, exceeding riches of grace, abundant grace, riches of glory, unsearchable riches of grace. He (Paul) never speaks of grace without an emphasis. Single grace and single mercy would not serve his turn." (Stephen Charnock 1675)
The grace that God offers us is like a fountain overflowing and spilling all over the courtyard - all we are asked to do is to stand in the path of it's flow. In verse 14, the original word UPERPLEONAZO is used to suggest something that is poured out beyond all fullness. (Bill Long)
When words like Christian spirituality are discussed, sometimes it's easy to shut off and think it is beyond us or too mystical for us to comprehend or apply to our lives. Christian Spirituality should embrace and express the ideas of peace, love and understanding in order to help us understand that is not a way of life beyond us. Seeking after peace, love and understanding according to man and woman's standards will fall short and disappoint those who are searching. Only God's peace, love and understanding will succeed.
The Christian life begins not in knowing all the right answers but instead in first admitting our limitations, selfishness and sin. Paul shares his own humanness in vs. 15 –
"15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst."
It is in this openness that the overflowing grace of God spills over our lives and changes our hearts to be made more like Christ.
Vs. 16 – "16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."
It is necessary for us to be aware of our human limitations and sin in order for God's grace to flow over us, causing us to react in honor to God in our actions and words. Simply said: Confession of sin leads to overwhelming grace and our reaction of honor and praise to God. Vulnerability of our hearts allows for the nourishment of God's love to impact the core of our life with Christian Spirituality.
How can I understand Christian Spirituality?
A week ago, I started reading a book called "Sacred Companions". The text posed the question," What are the major markers of progress on the journey?"
I wrote in my notebook:
Major Markers on the journey are: desire for closeness with God, Knowing God loves you, Loving others w/ God's love and a changed unselfish heart/motives.
Knowing that I have a distance to go in this journey of faith I began to think about the frailty of my humanness and got the image of an apple in my mind.
The skin of an apple is protective only to a point. The apple can be bumped around and not reveal the internal damage only after the skin is broken. In a way, I'm like an apple. My skin only protects me from a minimum of damage. I can try to hide my weakness and bruises by refusing to break the surface, but the damage is still there. If I allow God to break through the "skin" of my humanness it allows for grace to nourish my life. As the core of my heart is exposed to God, the seeds are drenched with God's love. Eventually, the exposed seeds of my heart will take root. What kind of roots will they be? What will the seeds of my life become? Will they be rooted in selfishness or will they be rooted in love?
Christian Spirituality involves our surrender to become consumed by God's love and leading to rebirth of God's love in other's lives. We can try to fool ourselves into thinking that we don't want to allow ourselves to be consumed by anything or anyone, and resist being vulnerable to God. If we don't allow God to consume our lives with love, something else in the world will consume us and that something has nothing to do with love.
So as Paul rejoices in the abundance of God's grace we should rejoice too!
Allow yourself to be vulnerable to God and be honest about the condition of your life. Allow the grace of God to wash over you so that you can give praise to the one who makes your life one of peace, love and understanding – to the core.
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