|
go here to buy my stock photography
Alan Creech
 Custom Search
what would happen if we did nothing? sites & things i like
abbey of gethsemani faith communities christ the king blogs i read
aaron klinefelter
|
January 19, 2007
> 9:06 PM
what would happen if we did nothing? part two And so my answer is this -- I will agree with several of my commenters who mentioned such words as "atrophy" and the like. Mainly, I'm talking about if we stopped "doing the disciplines" - regular prayer, Scripture reading, liturgy, reception of the Sacraments, being in and with the community, etc. There are a good number of Christians who have a philosophy that goes something like, "all we need is to believe in Jesus and that's it." Jesus takes care of the rest I'm assuming. The rest of what? I'm not really sure. So, you believe in Jesus and that puts you in position to go to Heaven. I guess that's all there is to it. Oh, I forgot, going to Heaven is not the point of Christianity. So, two totally different views of what everything means, almost, are fostered here. If one has a transformational view of the point - that the whole purpose is that we be really and truly transformed into the kind of Human Beings we were created to be, Humans like Jesus, then we will probably also realize that this does not happen in an instant. You might also start thinking something crazy like, it also doesn't happen unilaterally. The transformation we've been born anew for requires our cooperation along the way. So, what happens if we do nothing? If we simply sit in the knowledge that we are in Christ with some thought that whatever God wants to happen will somehow mysteriously happen just because HE wants it to? My answer is, very little. Very little will happen in us that will lead to any kind of real transformation into the Image of Christ. Whatever faith or strength we had would relatively soon fade, become washed-out and colorless. There are more analogies than I know that you could lay over this thing - the muscles would "grow" weaker, smaller and eventually would be useless. The fire would burn for a while but then would "grow" smaller, colder and eventually all the fuel would burn up or all the oxygen would disappear and the fire would go out. However you want to look at it, it's not good. Now, this all has little or nothing to do with what we feel is true about it, what we feel is happening or not happening inside us. Our "feeler" is a little screwed up. It's not the most dependable piece of equipment we have. I just wanted to get that out of the way. It may happen that you are continuing in the doing of your faith and even after quite some time, you feel next to nothing. You may feel as if all this is accomplishing nothing in you. You may just be downright tired and bored of it all. OK. All that means not much of anything. Who was it that told you that our feeling mechanism was directly connected to the deep recesses of God's Mind and Heart such that it accurately reflects what He knows to be true? Who told you that mess? I'd like to have a talk with them. They've done you damage. So, what happens? We short-circuit our transformation. We cut off the process as it's working. But all we need is Love. Yes, I agree - surprised? I fully agree. God is Love. It is He essential Nature. It is all we need - but that's a big, deep statement. The question it begs is, how does that work? What gets that Love to us, in us? How is that Love facilitated in and through us? Through the constant turning of our focus and affections on the Eternal Essence of Love, and that does not happen by doing nothing. It happens in and through many things. Even meditation is doing something. Being silent is doing something intentional. And you know many others. It strengthens the muscles. It stokes the fire. It keeps the arteries from getting clogged so the Blood can flow freely. So, just to be clear again, I wasn't and am not talking about doing good works. I'm talking about the work of spiritual formation, our cooperative work in the process of transformation. It does require us doing something. In requires both inner and outer "yeses" in order to work properly. I suppose that's enough on that for now. I've already written about 3 more paragraphs than I intended to. Grace and Peace to you. technorati tags > prayer, works, spiritual formation, spiritual disciplines Labels: church, liturgy, spiritual formation 0 Comments:| permalink | e-mail me | 
|
daily prayer
ordinary time lectionary readings > today
my blog post labels
blogging archives
|
038
