The Waking Dreamer: Book of 1 John

Showing posts with label Book of 1 John. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Real People

1 John 5:6-13[1]

We live in a world where it’s getting increasingly more difficult to live as “real” people. By that, I mean taking the risk of being vulnerable enough to show others your true self. Hopefully we all have family and friends with whom we can share who we really are and do so with the confidence that they will love and support us. The sad truth is that’s not the case for everyone. But outside that circle of family and friends, most of us keep our “guard” up. We don’t really show most people our true selves. Instead, we hide behind the “appearance” that our lives are all “put together” and everything is “just fine.” But when we do so, we also make it more difficult to build relationships. And it’s through relationships that we share the “hope that is within us.”

Of course, there’s wisdom in not telling everything about yourself to everyone you meet. And when you run into a stranger in public and they ask “How are you?” it’s perfectly acceptable to answer “Just fine, thank you.” But the problem is that we get used to hiding behind the effort to keep up appearances that everything is “just fine.” So when we have an opportunity to share who we truly are or what we’re really dealing with in life, even with a trusted family member or friend, we may instead stay hidden behind that wall. And when we do so, we miss out on the opportunity to give them a chance to show just how much they truly do love and support us, just as we are, no matter what we may be dealing with in life.

At the same time, that’s a problem for us as followers of Jesus Christ. The only way we can share our faith with others is by taking the risk of being vulnerable enough to reveal who we really are and what we’re actually dealing with in life. Of course, part of the problem is that many of the people we meet are doing the same thing as we are. They’re hiding behind their own efforts to “keep up appearances.” And when we take the risk of sharing who we really are with them, it may make them feel awkward. We live in a world where it’s difficult to live as “real” people. But if we’re going to live as witnesses to the new life in Christ, we’re going to have to find a way to take that risk.

I think our lesson from 1 John addresses this issue. As I mentioned last week, the community of believers to whom the Elder John was writing was going through something very much like a “church split.” The point of disagreement was over how to understand the idea that Jesus was both fully God and fully human. Some insisted that he was so fully God that he couldn’t possibly “die” on the cross. After all, how can God “die”? But the author of 1 John knew that affirming Jesus’ very real death as a part of his full humanity was essential to the good news. So he insisted that part of the testimony to Jesus as the Son of God was his very real death on the cross.

In our lesson for today, the Elder says that “those who believe in the Son of God have this testimony in their own heart” (1 Jn. 5:10, NLT). There’s some debate about what it means to have the “testimony” to Jesus “in your heart”, but I think it means that when someone’s faith in Jesus is real you can see the new life that is in them. It’s obvious by who they are and how they live. You can’t miss it. They “have the witness in their own hearts.” The most effective way we as believers in Jesus have of drawing others to faith in him is demonstrating this “witness” we have by living as “real people.” We have to show others who we truly are.

Some of us may be feeling like that’s just not something we can do, and certainly not on our own. We may think we’re not worthy, or we’re not capable, or perhaps we’re just not comfortable putting ourselves out there as witnesses to faith in Jesus Christ. I understand and resonate with that feeling. Bearing witness to faith in Jesus Christ is a big task, and it’s one that none of us can do on our own. But it’s not meant to be a “do-it-yourself” project. We can only bear witness to our faith as Jesus Christ himself enables us to do so through the power of the Holy Spirit. We’re called to share our faith by sharing our lives with others. If our sharing actually leads them to faith, that “miracle” happens because of what Jesus Christ is doing through us by the power of the Spirit.[2] It’s not something we can do on our own. For me, that’s a relief, because it means I don’t have to do on my own.

Of course, the hard truth is that it’s difficult for all of us to be truly genuine all the time. Many are afraid to let others see too much of themselves. Being “real” people can mean letting others in on our flaws and weaknesses and failures. Truth be told, most of us have some sort of dirty laundry, and we’re not eager to let everyone see it. Of course there’s room for some discretion here. We don’t have to share everything we’ve ever done that we regret in order to be basically genuine people. We don’t have to put every mistake we’ve ever made on public display to bear witness to the new life we have through our faith in Jesus Christ. Even though we’re all flawed and fallible people, we can still be “real.”

Part of the power of the “Twelve-Step” movement is that it creates an environment of confidentiality that makes it a place where people feel more comfortable letting others see who they really are. One of the sayings in Twelve-step meetings is “Who you see here, what is said here, when you leave here, let it stay here.” That promise of “safety” makes it possible for participants to share their “experience, strength, and hope” by taking the risk of being vulnerable enough to show others their true self.

I think the challenge for us as believers in Jesus is to do the same thing. Sharing our faith is not something that comes easily. But it’s something we’re called to do. And we can share our faith, even when we feel inadequate or unworthy. We do so by taking the risk of being “real” people. I think the most effective way to draw others to faith in Jesus Christ is to be people of whom Jesus can say, “my life is on display in them” (Jn 17:10, The Message). That means showing the new life we have through faith in Jesus by living as “real” people. We do that by sharing our lives with others. That’s all we’re called to do: to share our lives with others. And we leave the results to Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of us all!

[2] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.3.2: 609: “The Christian is called to be the accompanying and confirming sign of the living Word of God. It thus follows that he must indicate and attest this Word in the act of his whole existence. … And if the Christian has the power to make perceptible the self-witness of Christ as its echo in the world, this power is Christ’s and not his human power. To the Christian and his fellow-men it is always a miracle when his witness has this power.”

Tuesday, May 07, 2024

Complete Victory

1 John 5:1-6[1]

When I was growing up, the only games we had to play were the ones where there were winners and losers. The whole reason why you played the game was to win! Of course, what happens when you approach a game from that point of view is that it’s easy to lose sight of the simple pleasure of playing the game. In more recent times, we’ve seen the rise of “cooperative” games. In those games, the “opponent” is a situation or adversary that is literally “in the cards.” All the players cooperate, because they only win together or lose together. Either they win or the game wins. Some might ask “what’s the point?” The answer is the fun you have working together to “beat” the game!

When it comes to Christians talking about the “victory” they experience through their faith in Jesus Christ, I’m afraid it can sound like “winners” and “losers.” When we claim to be the “winners,” it follows then that those who are not among “us” are the “losers.” And, in fact, there is a whole strain of Christian history and theology that very much sounds like the “good news” is that “we’re in” and “you’re out.” It’s called Christian triumphalism. You can hear it in some hymns written around the turn of the 20^th century. That’s one reason why I never choose them for worship. There’s just something about singing a hymn that sounds like singing “we’re number one” that, at least in my opinion, just doesn’t fit in the worship of Jesus Christ.

I think anyone might be excused for adopting that way of thinking based on our lesson from 1 John for today. It promises that “we win the victory over the world by means of our faith” (1 Jn 5:4, NLT). And it insists that “Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” can “defeat the world” (1 Jn 5:5). Here, the “world” refers to those who reject Jesus Christ as the Son of God. In that context, it was talking about some who had been part of the Christian community, but who had broken away over disagreements about how to understand Jesus as both fully human and fully divine. It wouldn’t be the last time the church would divide over a point of theology, and inevitably both sides paint the other one as in the wrong and even as enemies to the cause of Christ. That’s what we see unfortunately in 1 John. The animosity between the two groups was so intense that he could call the “others” “antichrists”(1 Jn 2:22)! That’s pretty strong language!

We can’t fully step back into that setting and understand what it was that motivated 1 John to use such harsh language. But I have a hard time seeing it as an expression of the enduring Word of God. I would say that it reflected much more a very specific situation in that day and time. Elsewhere in the NT, that kind of animosity between groups of Christians is not only discouraged, it’s positively rebuked! Even in other NT writings attributed to John, the “world” isn’t always the “enemy.” Remember, John 3:16 tells us that God sent his son precisely because he loved the “world”! This points us in a different direction in our attitude toward those who are “other.”

As I mentioned, the problem I have with the mindset about the “victory” of Christian faith that leaves out the people who have not (yet) come to faith is that it can lead us to look down on them as “less than.” I don’t believe that God is in the business of some grand “Zero-sum game,” especially one in which there are only a “chosen few” who “win” and the vast majority of the “others” “lose.” It was God’s love for the whole world of humanity that led to Jesus’ victory over sin and death at the cross and in the resurrection. That’s the language the NT uses for Jesus’ death and resurrection, although it describes that “victory” with different words.[2] Our affirmation of faith for today says it this way: “Jesus’ resurrection won the victory over all powers that deform and destroy human life.”[3]

We experience that victory not in that we “win” and others “lose,” but in that we already share in the victory of God’s grace over all that diminishes or harms anyone in any way. Even when we make the definition of who gets to participate in Jesus’ Easter victory over sin and death as broad as possible, it still leaves some “winners” and some “losers.” But the NT understanding of Christ’s victory is that it’s over “all things,” which is shorthand for the whole of creation. That includes not only the whole world and everything and everyone in it, but the cosmos and “all the heavens”! One of the leading theologians of the ancient church claimed that even the “inventor of evil” would eventually be restored by God’s grace![4] Talk about a complete victory!

More than that, because it’s not our victory, but Jesus’ victory, we cannot truly experience it unless we do so in the humility that acknowledges that we “win” only as we experience God’s love for us and share that love with all those who are “other.” The victory is not over the “others” who may not share our faith now, or who may live very different lifestyles. The victory is over the powers that oppress all people. And our faith in the victory Jesus won for us all through his death and resurrection enables us to confidently relate to all who are “other” with God’s love.[5]

Even after this careful framing of our “victory” in Jesus, there remains one more consideration. Talk about this kind of victory may seem hollow in a world in which there is still so much suffering taking place. Again, our affirmation of faith acknowledges that in the present day, “The world appears to be dominated by people and systems that do not acknowledge his rule.” One analogy that could be used is the invasion of Normandy on D-Day on June 6, 1944 and the final victory in Europe in the Second World War. Many would say that the invasion of Normandy on D-Day was the crucial victory that spelled the defeat of the Nazi war machine. The war still raged on for almost another year, and many more lives were lost. But after D-Day, the final victory in Europe was perhaps inevitable. Jesus’ victory over the powers of evil, sin, and death in this world is like that. It was the decisive event that made the final victory inevitable.

Most of us have experienced some kind of harm or loss in this life. We may have experience harm at the hands of those who don’t yet follow Jesus. Or perhaps even at the hands of those who follow Jesus, but don’t yet do so perfectly. Many of us have experienced loss in that our lives just didn’t turn out the way we had hoped. Those wounds can haunt us, sometimes for a whole lifetime. But the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that in his death and resurrection, he has decisively defeated all the powers in this world that can harm us. We may still be vulnerable to them in this life, but there will come a day when our victory will be complete, when we stand before Jesus and all our wounds are made whole. That’s a wonderful hope. But perhaps even more importantly, there will come a day when Christ’s victory over all of creation will be made finally complete for all creation, when all the heavens and and everything and everyone on earth are united under one Lord, and we all share together in that victory as confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:11)! That sounds like a complete victory to me!

[2] Cf. Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 5:12-13; 11:15.

[3] “A Declaration of Faith” Presbyterian Church in the United States, 117th General Assembly, 1977; reissued by Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 1991 §4(5).

[4] Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Orations, 26; cf. J. Quasten, Patrology, III:289-90.

[5] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.2:825. He says, “It is love alone that counts, love alone that triumphs, and love alone that endures.” Cf. also ibid., 832-35.

Wednesday, May 01, 2024

Original Blessing

1 John 4:7-21[1]

One of the things that we in the church are “known” for is our emphasis on “sin.” Many would call it an “obsession.” You simply don’t find the word “sin” used much in our culture outside the church. So it’s no wonder that the church has come to be associated so closely with “sin.” And that’s not necessarily a good thing. People who have no church background tend to view our emphasis on “sin” with a kind of puzzled curiosity. They know that we “confess” our “sins.” But the whole concept just doesn’t compute. It’s almost as if they wonder why, with all the challenges that life in this world brings, anyone would choose to add to that burden by heaping guilt on themselves with all this talk about “sin”!

One of the great challenges throughout the ages for thinkers of all varieties is how to explain human nature. It’s obvious that we have great potential for good. And many people maximize their potential for good in so many ways. But at the same time we also all have potential to cause harm. It’s this combination of our inherent goodness with our inherent capacity to misuse our potential in ways that harm others that creates the mystery of sin.[2] Sadly, we tend to want to simplify that mystery. We either blame it all on the “devil,” or we blame it on human irresponsibility, or some combination of the two. But the mystery remains: people can be both incredibly good, kind, and loving, and also incredibly selfish, mean, and cruel.[3]

One of the ideas that the church has used to explain this mystery is “original sin.” In the Bible, the stories about the origins of sin emphasize that sin includes everyone, and it always has, but that’s not what we were created for.[4] But the church’s teaching has been very different. Due to a mistranslation of the book of Romans in the Latin Vulgate, the idea arose that Adam’s sin was literally handed down to each generation through the physical nature of human sexuality. Although that idea could not be more contrary to biblical teaching, it has persisted to this day. To this day, thousands of people take vows of celibacy as priests, monks, and nuns, in the notion that they are devoting themselves to a “more spiritual” life. Despite the Bible’s teaching that our creation in God’s image is something “very good,” including our sexuality, these notions of “sin,” and particularly “original sin,” continue to make people believe that being fully human is something “bad.”

While the Bible clearly emphasizes that we’ve all fallen short of our potential for goodness, that whole way of thinking couldn’t be more contrary to biblical teaching. I think we see this to some extent in our lesson from 1 John for today. To be sure, the Elder John is dealing with internal divisions in his community, where Christians are turning against one another. And he sees this as something that contradicts God’s love. But I think if we only look at that part of our passage, we may miss out on something more fundamental that could help us with all of that wrong-headed thinking about our being sinful creatures by design. I think we miss out on what I would call the “original blessing”: God’s essential nature as loving, and the gift of that love to the whole human family from the beginning.[5]

We see this reflected in our lesson for today in various ways. The Scripture says that “love comes from God” (1 Jn 4:7). I think we can read that statement to include all love. The reason why “love comes from God” is because “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8, 16). That’s the most fundamental statement about who God is in the whole Bible. More than that, we see God’s love reflected in Jesus: “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only son” (1 Jn 4:9) to “give up his life for us (1 Jn 3:16). That love defines who God is, always has and always will. And one of reasons why God sent his son was so that we all would share in that “original blessing” of love. The whole purpose for God giving us his love in the first place is so that we would reflect it in the way we show love in our lives. Notice that the Scripture says, “Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God” (1 Jn 4:7) Anyone who loves! While I do believe that statement is meant to be interpreted as broadly as possible, I would say that we shouldn’t read this to mean that anyone who shows love in any way is a follower of Christ. But I would say that it means that any time anyone shows love in any way they are reflecting God’s love, because God’s love is the source for all love. So it is that Scripture can say, “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them” (1 Jn 4:16). Not only is God’s essential nature defined by love, but God’s love defines and shapes our love. And the point of it all is that our love is to reflect that “original blessing”: “if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us” (4:12). God blessed us with his love in the beginning so that we would love others.[6]

You may have noticed that I don’t talk a whole lot about sin. I don’t care to heap burdens of guilt on people and browbeat them into breaking down and admitting they’re sinners in need of salvation. I think the world does more than enough of that. I much prefer to focus on God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s love that never fails. That’s an intentional choice on my part. As I’ve said before, where you start out with your theology makes all the difference in where you wind up. If you start with the message that all people are “sinners” by nature because we’ve all been infected with the “curse” of “original sin,” that’s inevitably going to lead to a response of guilt, shame, and fear toward God. The focus on “original sin” leads to the very “fear of punishment” that our lesson warns against (1 Jn 4:18). We’ve had far too much of that already. By contrast, the Scripture teaches us that when we truly understand and experience God’s “perfect love” for us, it “expels all fear.” Think of it, what do we really have to fear if God is love and God has given this love to us all?

I much prefer to emphasize God’s “original blessing.” It was God’s love that motivated him in the first place to create all things and us as his human partners. It was God’s love that kept him coming back to a wayward people he had chosen to share his love with the world. It was God’s love that Jesus lived out though his mercy and compassion, and in giving his life for us all. And it’s God’s love that is the “original blessing” we can all claim as the true purpose for which we were created. That’s why I prefer to focus on God’s love as the “original blessing” that we’re all learning to live into. For some of us it may take a lifetime to fully embrace the good news: God loves us all, unconditionally, undeniably, and irrevocably! And whenever we show love to anyone, brother or sister, parent or child, friend, neighbor, or stranger—and I would even say to any of God’s creatures as well—we’re participating in God’s “original blessing”: the love that the Bible tells us God bestowed on the whole human family before anything was created!

[2] In part, of course, the “mystery” of sin goes beyond that which is human. There is a cosmic dimension to it that is also a mystery in the context of God’s “very good” creation.

[3] Cf. Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 192-215. After a thorough analysis, he concludes: “Sin is still as mysterious as before: a senseless and mortally dangerous rebellion against the purpose of God.”

[4] Cf. Berkhof, Christian Faith, ?

[5] I realize that I am taking this passage in a direction that is likely very different from the theology of 1 John. In I John, love for one another is a mark of a true believer. He is arguing against those he would consider “false believers” or “antichrists” because they have broken the bonds of love in the community. And yet, I would insist that, despite the conflict in the Johannine community and it’s influence on the theology of the Johannine writings to the effect that he sees the “world” as a threat, 1 John can still recognize that Jesus Christ died for the whole world (1 Jn 2:2). While the rhetoric against “outsiders” is harsh in 1 John, when taken in consideration with the Johannine writings as a whole, it must be acknowledged that the term “world” is complex in this context. I would also argue that while the intent of 1 John is influenced by the situation of conflict, the theology of God’s love transcends that particular setting. Even if 1 John cannot recognize the full expression of the theology of God’s love to the whole human family through their creation in God’s image, it is a point that theologians have recognized in 1 John (cf. e.g. Gregory of Nyssa, De hominis opificio, 5.2; cf. On the Making of Man in P. Schaff, H. Wace, & H. A. Wilson, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers series 2, vol. 5: Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises, 391).

[5] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, 250: “For Christian experience, the spirituality of the love of God is to be found in the vitality of true human love.” He applies the same approach to friendship with the “wholly other” God and friendship with the “other” whoever that may be (ibid., 259). He applies this line of thinking to human love in general, asking (ibid., 260), “In experiencing human love, are we not supposed to think of the experience of God? And in experiencing God, are we not supposed to think of the experience of love?”

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

More Than Words

1 John 3:16-24[1]

We all know that loving God means loving people. And we all know that loving people means more than just loving our family and friends. It means loving even those who are difficult to love, even those who may push our comfort level, even those whom we may think of as “enemies.” And we all know that when the Bible teaches us to love like this, it’s not just talking about how you “feel.” It’s talking about how you live, what you do, and how you treat people. And it’s not just talking about “people” as an “idea,” it’s talking about the real, living and breathing people we come in contact with every day. If there’s one thing that’s true about loving other people, really loving all the people we come in contact with, it’s that it doesn’t come easily—for any of us!

I think part of the reason for this is that love is about giving. When you love another person, you give to them. You give them what they need when they need it. If they’re hungry, you feed them. If they’re lonely, you spend time with them. If they need help, you give it to them. You care for them when they cannot care for themselves. But more than any specific thing you may give to someone you love, you give yourself. That’s where it gets tricky, because the question is how much of yourself you can really give away. We all know that our example for loving others is Jesus, who gave his life for us all. And there have been many throughout the ages who have done just that: give up their lives for the sake of those they loved.

As much as I would agree with the fact that Jesus’ teachings about love were intended to prepare those who followed him for the possibility that they may be called on to give up even their lives for others, I would not say that’s what loving others always means for everyone. Sometimes we may be called to give up a great deal, perhaps even everything, perhaps even life itself for the sake of those we love. Sometimes, though, we’re called to love people over the course of a lifetime. We may give up a lot in order to do that, but the point is that we go on living our lives so that we can go on loving them day by day, year after year. I would say that’s probably the kind of life of love that most of us are called to practice.

The practice of loving other people as something that is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian is also a major theme in 1 John. The Elder John says it plainly earlier in the chapter from which our lesson for today is drawn: “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (1 Jn 3:11, NLT). And in our lesson, he says, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 Jn 3:16, NLT). Again, we know well that there were many in that day who literally were called to give up their lives, especially to protect their brothers and sisters in the faith. But that doesn’t seem to be what’s in mind here. He goes on: “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions” (1 Jn 3:17-18, NLT).”

Here, the kind of love that the Elder John has in mind is about having the means to help someone in need and actually helping them. It’s about sharing what we have with people we know who are in need. For some of us, helping others like this is second nature. For others it may be more difficult. Beyond the basic challenge of whether or not we have a generous nature, the command that we are to love others by giving tangible goods or money to help them is another way in which loving others can be tricky. We have to use our best judgment to discern whether giving someone what they ask for actually helps them or whether it may hurt them. It’s not always easy to know for sure when we’ve crossed that line.

I’ve had some experience with that. Some of you may know that I have a tendency to be generous to a fault. When I was in college, I was the guy who picked up hitchhikers as I was driving the wide-open spaces of Texas. I’ve given more money out of my own pocket than I probably should have to people simply because they asked for it. And I know for sure that some of them were taking advantage of my generosity. I had a man whom I had helped on more than one occasion come back to me and apologize. He had been taking advantage of the fact that I was helping keep him housed to spend what money he had on his drinking habit. Was I helping him? Was I hurting him? That’s where it gets tricky.

I’d like to think that I’ve gotten more discerning about whom I help and how I will help them. I don’t have any problem buying someone a meal or filling their tank with gas. But I prefer to give money to organizations that help those in need rather than handing out cash to someone standing on a street corner. And yet, I must confess it’s hard for me to just “look the other way,” but I simply don’t feel comfortable potentially giving someone the means to continue destroying their own lives. I think the challenge for me is to make sure that I’m actually giving to those organizations and not just using that as an excuse not to share what I have with those who are in need.

The part of this that gets really tricky for all of us is that helping people who are in true need takes us outside our comfort zones. Many of the people who truly have needs we can help are those we ordinarily may not have much to do with, or perhaps they are those whom we intentionally avoid. But we cannot follow the command to love others without recognizing “the intrinsic claim of every person to be considered a person.”[2] That’s not so hard when everyone we meet looks like us, or talks like us. But we live in a great big world with a lot of very different people in it. We cannot simply love those who are like us. We can only truly love our neighbors when we can see “that every human face is the face of a neighbor.”[3] And Jesus calls us to love that neighbor. When we can get past all the superficial differences and see anyone in need as “one of us,” then we can love them in a way that goes beyond words.

[2] Paul Tillich, Love, Power and Justice, 60.

[3] Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society, 41: “For a compassionate [man] nothing human is alien: no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way of dying. … This compassion pulls people away from the fearful clique into the large world where they can see that every human face is the face of a neighbor.”

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

We Shall Be Like Him

1 John 3:1-2[1]

I’ve mentioned before that one of the symptoms of the changes that are reshaping our society is that it’s hard to know whom you can trust. While I genuinely and wholeheartedly believe that there is plenty of goodness and beauty in our world if we have the eyes to see it, I also recognize that there is a lot of pain and fear as well. As much as it is true that we all have so much to be grateful for in this life, we also all have our share in the pain and brokenness of our world. Despite all appearances, especially in the beautiful family pictures on social media that make us think that everyone else has the perfect life, the reality is that life takes unexpected and unwelcome turns for us all. And when that happens, most of us find ourselves asking the question of God, “Why did this have to happen to me?”

Part of the problem is that we may look for our sense of safety from people who aren’t really able to provide it. Some of us may have felt betrayed by the person we love most in the world, whether a parent or child, a spouse or a friend. That kind of betrayal can leave us wondering if we can trust anyone or anything, even God! Some of us may have committed our lives to a career, even given our best years to it, only to find that the choices of others or circumstances beyond our control leave us empty-handed. Some of us have had our health go from something we took for granted to something that feels like it’s hanging by a thread. In these and many other ways, our experiences in life can leave us wondering if we can trust anyone or anything. Even God.

We come to faith drawn by the wonderful good news that God loves us and that Jesus lived and died and rose again to show us just how much that’s true. And in our best moments we know the peace and joy that promise holds for us, and we’re deeply grateful. But the way our lives may unfold has a way of taking a jolting turn at what can seem like the very worst possible time. Sometimes our faith is strong enough to carry us through. Sometimes, life’s sudden twists take all the supports out from under us. The shock of that jolt can leave us wondering where God is, or whether God loves us, or whether there even is a God at all. It shakes our faith to the core, and we may wonder if we can ever believe again.

I think our lesson from 1 John for today addresses this issue. The Elder John uses the resurrection of Jesus as a basis for reminding us that, no matter what may happen to us, God is always faithful. In a very real sense, that was also one of the main lessons of Jesus’ resurrection. Despite all appearances that his death somehow invalidated all that he said and did—as the crowds pointed out by shouting, “he saved others, let him save himself!”—the cross was not the end of Jesus’ faith in God and his life of faithful obedience to God. Death was not the final word for Jesus’ life and ministry. The final word was and is resurrection to new life. Part of the reason for that was to vindicate all that Jesus had said and done in his ministry. But part of the reason for the resurrection was to demonstrate definitively that God is always faithful. Always.

And so it is that our Scripture reading reminds us that our lives are all grounded firmly in the love of God, which has made us “children of God.” This is one of the themes of 1 John. God has not only demonstrated his love for us by what Jesus did, he also assures us of his love for us by the constant presence of his Spirit. In the face of any doubts we may harbor about whether or not we are truly beloved children of God, the Scripture emphasizes that we’re not just “called” God’s children, but that’s what we truly are. The basis for this confidence is the story of God’s love for the people of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. We may be used to thinking of it as a story of an angry God punishing a wayward people. But I think we would do better to see it as the story of a loving father who never gives up on his stubbornly defiant children. Through it all, God is always faithful to them. Always!

Our scripture lesson takes it a step further, however. As the author puts it, “we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2, NLT) While there’s a lot going on in that statement, I would say that the point of it is to assure us that just as God demonstrated his faithfulness to Jesus by raising him from the dead, so the promise that we will share the resurrection life of Jesus is the promise that God will be faithful to us as well. Just as death was not God’s last word for Jesus, so it is for us as well. Neither will any of the pain or fear or disappointment or despair or emptiness we may have to deal with in our lives.

God’s last word for us is life. And God’s final act of faithfulness will be to bring us face-to-face with Jesus so that we see him “as he really is.” What’s more, the promise is that when we stand before the risen Lord Jesus, “we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2, NLT)! I find it interesting that the Elder John says we don’t know exactly what that will look like. But the idea is that Jesus’ resurrection gives us at least a clue. In fact, another main theme of Easter is that very real nature of Jesus’ resurrection gives us something of an indication about what to expect about our future with God. As the Scripture says, we will be like Jesus. The promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that we too will be resurrected to a new life, and when that happens, we will all be changed so that we are “like him.” And the point of it all is that God is always faithful. And he will continue to show us his faithfulness all the way to our eternal life in his loving presence.

Sometimes the way our lives unfold can make us question whether we can trust even God. The path gets dark and difficult, and we may wonder whether it will always be that way. But the promise of the resurrection is that God’s last word is never death, but life.[2] I like the way Henri Nouwen frames it: “Through the resurrection, God has said to Jesus, ‘You are indeed my beloved Son, and my love is everlasting,’ and to us God has said, ‘You are indeed my beloved children, and my love is everlasting.’”[3] That first Easter is a promise that we can trust God to be faithful to love us all the way through everything in this life until we are standing face-to-face with Jesus, when we shall be like him.

[2] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 2.2:29: “God Himself in His freedom has decided that [man] shall stand, that he shall be saved and not lost, that he shall live and not die.”

[3] Henri J. M. Nouwen, God’s Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring, 100-101. He adds that “The resurrection is God’s way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God … will [ever] get lost … . The resurrection doesn’t answer any of our curious questions about life after death, … . But it does reveal to us that, indeed love is stronger than death.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer is known for saying something similar: the promise of final resurrection is the promise that “nothing is lost, that everything is taken up in Christ” and restored “as God originally intended for it to be.” Cf. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 170

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Why Should I Believe It?

1 John 1:1-4[1]

We live in a time when skepticism is a virtue. The continual explosion of information technology and the almost exponential rise of new platforms to share information has, I think, played a role in this. Instead of making information easier to process, it’s much harder, if only because of the sheer volume of information that is available to anyone using a smartphone on any given day. You just can’t process it all. You can’t even scroll through it all! So instead of taking the time to ask whether the information we’re using is from a reliable source, or whether it results from sound research, or whether it even makes any sense, we just “browse” our so-called “news feeds” on various media for what holds our interest, or what reinforces our opinions, without taking the time to even think about the question, “Why should I believe this?”

This is actually not a “modern” problem. It’s a logical fallacy that’s been around for a long time. It’s called “Confirmation bias.” What that means is that people only pay attention to information that confirms what they already believe, and they dismiss as false whatever challenges it, simply because it challenges it. We’re not open to information that contradicts what we already believe. That’s not the only logical fallacy going around. There are a lot of them. Calling something “fake news” just because we don’t like it is a kind of logical fallacy that skirts the issue by simply attacking the source. In fact, it’s considered to be one of the weakest logical arguments. Ironically, some of those who complain the loudest about “fake news” are the ones who are out there pushing information that can be demonstrated as false based on actual facts.

But then part of the problem is that we don’t even agree on what constitutes facts. And that leads us deeper into this whole question by raising the issue of how we know what we know. There are some things we know based on intuition, like whether or not someone loves you. You just know “in your heart” that’s true. There are other things we know based on some kind of demonstration. Most of our scientific knowledge falls into that category. If someone can come up with an experiment that generates the same results every time, it’s considered to be fact. But then there is a lot of “knowledge” that falls somewhere in between, relying on a combination of objective facts and a subjective, more personal point of view. A lot of what we “know” falls into that category.

I think one of the reasons why faith can be so difficult is because it falls into that “in between” category of what we know. There are certain criteria that most faith traditions in the world rely on, but it’s a matter of how you balance them. One basis for faith is an accepted canon of Scriptures, or a collection of authoritative writings, like the Bible. That can be helpful, because an authoritative text is a fairly fixed source. But any text is always subject to interpretation. And there is plenty of evidence for the wide variety of interpretations of the Bible. Another basis for faith is the authority of a certain tradition of teaching. This takes faith and puts it into a practical framework that can help us translate what we believe into a way of living. But a tradition is a living thing, always developing in dialogue with changing times. Except, of course, when it doesn’t. We know people who belong to faith traditions that have not changed, perhaps for centuries. A final basis for faith is the authority of personal experience. It’s hard to dispute someone’s personal experience. But then personal experience can be (and has been) used to justify just about anything.

Because all these criteria for faith have their strengths and weaknesses, it’s important to find a balance that makes sense. I would say that a healthy approach to faith is going to combine all three: a sound use of Scripture, combined with a time-tested tradition of interpreting and putting into practice the truths of faith, combined with personal experience of the value of faith in our own lives. To some extent, my sermon today is a brief summation of what I taught for years in my biblical interpretation class at Seminary. You might wonder whether a sermon is the time and the place for going into that. But I also think that our Scripture lesson from 1 John for today raises the issue of why we believe.

During the season of Easter, we celebrate the message that that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and rose from the dead. But there are many these days who would ask the question why they should believe it. It speaks of things that most of us have never actually seen for ourselves. We weren’t there to see him die on the cross. We weren’t there when he appeared after his death and resurrection to his disciples. And even though our Scripture lessons throughout the Easter season give us their testimony of what they saw and experienced, many question whether we should accept it.

That’s also not a new problem. It was a challenge for the first generation of believers, as our Scripture lesson from 1 John shows us. The message of the Gospel included the claim that those who were with Jesus were eyewitnesses to his full humanity, to his very real suffering, and to his bodily resurrection. Our Scripture lesson puts it this way: “We declare to you … what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands” (1 John 1:1). Jesus was the “word” they had heard with their own ears and seen with their own eyes and touched with their own hands. There’s a kind of dual reference going on here: it’s a claim that they heard Jesus teaching during the time of his ministry and they saw the amazing things he did. At the same time, however, it’s also a claim that their encounters with the risen Christ as eyewitnesses of his resurrection were very real.[2]

For some of us that’s enough to support our faith. The testimony of the original eyewitnesses in Scripture is enough to satisfy the question why I should believe Jesus is alive now. Of course, there have been all kinds of efforts to explain away what the disciples claimed about Jesus’ resurrection. But it’s one thing to say that they only thought they saw and heard him; it’s hard to explain away the claim that they actually touched the risen Christ.[3] Again, however, a balanced approach to faith must move beyond the testimony of the eyewitnesses in the Bible. And so it’s important for us to remember that we have our own very real encounters with the risen Christ in our lives. It may be hard for us to put them into words, but they are very real nevertheless. We may not be able to see him with our eyes, or hear him with our ears, or touch him with our hands, but that doesn’t make our encounters any less real. Perhaps more importantly, we can answer the question of why we should believe the story of Jesus because we are not standing alone before the witness of Scripture. There have been generations of believers who have embraced the Easter faith before us and who passed it on to us. That living tradition has not only taught us faith but also modeled it for us. In a sense we have “seen with our own eyes” the effect of faith in their lives.

From my perspective, the answer to the question “Why should I believe” that Jesus rose from the dead and lives among us now is going to be as individual as each person. For some of us, it’s enough that the “Bible tells me so.” “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That’s enough. For others, “he lives within my heart” may be what convinces us. “You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.” For still others, the fact that we continue the “ancient church’s story” of “the faith of our fathers” and mothers. Or perhaps even more importantly that “we walk with each other” and “we walk hand in hand” is the key to faith. For some of us, in an age in which many people get along just fine without giving second thought to God or faith or the risen Christ, we need all of it: the witness of the Bible, the experience of our own personal encounters with Christ, and the support of those who have gone before us and those who walk the path with us. We need all of that to maintain Easter faith.

[2] Cf. Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John, 174-75, where he says the primary effect of this text has been to secure the authority of eyewitness testimony for the Johannine writings. He insists that this still holds true even if the author of this letter was not John the Apostle but an unidentified leader of the Johannine community because the statement still reflects the reality of the manifestation of the word, but through the means of preserving the eyewitness testimony of the Beloved disciple to the life and ministry of Jesus (cf. similarly Jn. 20:29–31; 21:24–25).

[3] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, Sun of Righteousness, Arise! God’s Future for Humanity and the Earth, 47-48: “The women and the disciples didn’t ‘see in their hearts’ or ‘with their spiritual eyes’. They didn’t have intuitions, while they were ‘caught up out of this world’, nor did they receive enlightenment in trances. The accounts tell us that it was with their normal five senses that they perceived the risen Christ.”

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

New Life Through God's Love

New Life Through God’s Love

1 John 4:7-21[1]

I know that not everybody looks at the world this way, but I tend to think that most people have the best of intentions behind their actions. Of course, the best of intentions can often go off the rails. If we’re honest with ourselves, I think we have to admit that having the best of intentions doesn’t guarantee we will do or say the right thing. Unfortunately, having the best of intentions can actually keep us from seeing that we’re going about something all wrong. I know that’s been true in my life more times than I can count. I’ve made so many mistakes thinking I was doing or saying the right thing because of my good intentions. But then I suspect I’m not alone in that. It seems to be something that is a part of being human.

One of the tricky aspects of our good intentions is that they can blind us to what really lies behind our words and actions.^{^[2]} Oftentimes, our good intentions become our way of avoiding the fact that we’re afraid. Some of us may be afraid that if people really knew us they would not respect us or find us worthy of love and acceptance. Some of us may be afraid that the world is against us, and that if we don’t fight tooth and nail we will “lose.” Some of us may simply be afraid of the way the world seems to be changing at an ever faster pace. It’s an experience I think we all share at times: due to our fears we miss the fact that the “disruption” of change can lead to a life we could never have imagined would be so good.

I believe our lesson from 1 John for today addresses this problem of fear. Of course, in this particular context, the Scripture is speaking to the fear of punishment. And the point is that because of the love that God has freely poured into our lives through our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, we need no longer fear any punishment. As the Scripture puts it, “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). The impact of that love in our lives is that we no longer have to cringe in fear before a God we’re afraid will strike us down in anger. Instead, the message of the Gospel is that “God is love.”

But I think this passage has more to say to us about the power of God’s love to help us find new life than simply freeing us from fear of punishment. The Scripture puts it this way: “God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life” (1 John 4:9, CEV). There is some significant theology behind this. We call it the incarnation, the belief that in Jesus, God somehow came to walk in our shoes, to experience the fullness of our suffering, our struggles, and even our fears. And the purpose of all this was so that we might “live”: really and truly live a life of faith and hope and love that God intends for us all.

Throughout this passage there is an interesting interplay between living in love and living in God. Following up on the statement that “God is love,” the Scripture goes on to say “all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them” (1 John 4:16, NLT). “Living in love” and “living in God” seem to be interchangeable in our lesson for today. That may seem confusing, but I think the point is that when we come to know in the depth of our very souls that God loves us no matter what, we find a whole new quality of life. And at the same time, that new quality of life is only possible by experiencing God’s love for us. The two are intertwined: we find new life through God’s love for us.

In this lesson, the new life we have through God’s love for us results in our relating to one another with love. The Scripture puts it this way: “Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other” (1 John 4:11, CEV). The idea is that if God loved us enough to come among us in Jesus Christ and take the full measure of our brokenness on himself, we can do no less than love one another. The lesson goes on to state it plainly: “We love because God loved us first” (1 John 4:19, CEV). In fact, I would say that one of the primary characteristics of the new life we find through God’s love for us is that we share that love with others.

The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God freely gives love to each of us. It seems to me that when we really get it in our “heart of hearts” that God loves us no matter what, we are set free from the chains that bind us. That includes the chains of fear that can keep us from living fully into the new life we’ve been given. Bolstered by the assurance of God’s love for us, we can have a whole new basis for relating to life and to those around us. Instead of being driven by the fears that can haunt us, when we find new life through God’s love, that love can become the motivation behind our words and actions.

Of course, even here, we all fall short at times, despite our best intentions. I don’t know many people in this world who make it their purpose in life to go out and hurt someone intentionally. But even when it is our intention to speak and act from the love of God in our hearts, nobody perfectly embodies that intention. I know our lesson speaks of God’s love being “perfected” in us. I think the point of that is that when we seek to share the love we’ve received from God, the purpose for which God intended it is fulfilled in us. It seems to me that, given our human experience of falling short, we spend our lives doing our best to speak and act out of that love. Fortunately, it’s not something we have to do in our own strength. At the end of the day, it’s the power of God’s love working in us that enables us to live this new life.

[2] See Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 85-91.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

WYSIWYG

1 John 5:9-13[1]

Some of you may be wondering, based on the title of my sermon today, whether I’m going to preach in another language. “WYSIWYG” may look like gobbledygook to you. Those of you who, like me, tend toward the “geeky” side of life know exactly what the title of the sermon means. It is an acronym that stands for “what you see is what you get.” But it stands for a whole lot more than just what that phrase might say. It stands for a revolution in the way computers operated over thirty years ago. Instead of having to memorize hundreds of codes you had to enter manually in order to even use a basic word processor, “what you see is what you get” referred to a graphical user interface where all you had to do was “point and click.” And of course, now it means all you have to do is tap a screen. “What you see is what you get” has become a way of life for most of us.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t say that is the case outside the “virtual reality” of personal computing. We live in a world of fog and veils, a world of smoke and mirrors, a world where lies are promoted as the truth. When someone goes on TV to tell blatant lies, we call it “spin doctoring.” Blowing smoke in people’s face is raised to a higher level each year. When corporations throw thousands of people out of work, we used to call it “downsizing.” Then we called it “rightsizing.” Now we call it “corporate realignment.” As if there’s something out of whack about people making a decent living! In this world, it seems that nobody—absolutely nobody—is who they appear to be.

I think that something of this nature was going on behind the scenes of our study of 1 John. They were in the middle of a “church split,” where both sides were accusing the other of deception. The Elder who wrote this letter seemed to feel it was necessary to wade into the mess and try to bring some clarity to the situation. To some extent, he seems to have gone a little too far. There are several statements in this letter that reflect a kind of “all or nothing” thinking that doesn’t do justice to our experience of life—and probably wasn’t completely fair in that time. But he was fighting for the survival of a church community that was fragile and endangered by threats both from outside and from within.[2] From his perspective, the way to sort through the haze was to insist on adherence to certain doctrinal standards—accepting that Jesus truly was God in real human flesh.

While there are times when clarifying the truth of one’s convictions is important, even crucial, to maintaining our faith in this world, I would say that it doesn’t necessarily help that much in our day and time. We live in a time when, more and more, people aren’t looking so much for “cut and dried” answers to the deep questions of life. They are looking for authenticity. They’re looking for genuineness. They’re looking for something that truly embodies a “what you see is what you get” approach to life.

I think our Scripture lesson actually helps us here. The Elder says that “those who believe in the Son of God have the witness in themselves” (1 Jn. 5:10). There is some debate about what this means,[3] but I think it means that when someone’s faith in Jesus is real you can see the life that is in them.[4] It’s obvious by who they are and how they live. You can’t miss it. They “have the witness in themselves.” I think this kind of approach is a much better option for us in our current climate than strict adherence to doctrinal standards. I think a lot more people out there will be drawn to faith when we who profess to believe demonstrate this “witness” we have by living as “what you see is what you get” people.

Of course, that isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately, some of the most public representatives of our faith turn out to be some of the most dishonest and shallow people. Their personal lives are anything but a witness to the new life that people are looking for. They spend so much money on themselves that it’s hard to take much of what they say about the faith seriously. And, in fact, many who are outside the church looking in find faith to be difficult at best because the public face of the faith as reflected in the lives of these “Christian celebrities” is anything but genuine.

Of course, the hard truth is that it’s difficult for all of us to be truly genuine. Many are afraid to let others see too much of themselves. Being “what you see is what you get” people can mean letting others in on our flaws and weaknesses and failures. Truth be told, most of us have some sort of dirty laundry, and we’re not eager to let everyone see it. But I think there’s room for some discretion here. We don’t have to bare everything we’ve ever done that we regret in order to be fundamentally genuine people. We don’t have to put every mistake we’ve ever made on public display to bear witness to the new life we have through our faith in Jesus Christ. Even though we’re all flawed and fallible people, we can still be “what you see is what you get.”

The good news of the Gospel is that by his resurrection Jesus made it possible for us all to have life: new life, real life, life that is defined by genuine love, lasting joy, living hope.[5] That is the good news with which we have been entrusted. And we have also been called to bear witness to our new life in this world.[6] I think the most effective way to do that is to be people of whom Jesus can say, “my life is on display in them” (Jn 17:10, The Message). And I think that means we must live in such a way that the new life in Jesus Christ defines who we are.[7] We are called to be “what you see is what you get” people.

[2] Cf. Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John, 31–35; cf. also Stephen S. Smalley, 1,2,3 John, 291.

[3] The question is whether this “witness” believers have in themselves is the three-fold witness of the preceeding verses (cf. I. Howard Marshall, Epistles of John, 240), or the experience of faith, or the internal witness of the Spirit, or something separate. Brown makes a convincing argument for identifying this “witness” with the gift of eternal life on the basis of 1 Jn. 5:11–12 (cf. Brown, Epistles of John, 591).

[4] Cf. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 285-86; and C. Clifton Black, “The First, Second and Third Letters of John,” New Interpreters Bible XII:440. Cf. also G. Strecker, The Johannine letters, 195–196: “The Christ-event is not a thing of the past to which one may look back with an objectifying glance. … It occurs hic et nunc in the community, as a reconciling, life-giving reality. Christian life before God is life in the Son.” See further D. Moody Smith, First, Second, and Third John, 126, where he asserts that this witness consists of “the eternal life that is given in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. … salvation as the gift of life through the Son is the ultimate testimony of God.”

[5] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 191: “The Spirit of God makes the impossible possible; he creates faith where there is nothing else to believe in; he creates love where there is nothing lovable; he creates hope where there is nothing to hope for.” Cf. also ibid., 279: “In the rebirth of life the new creation of the world into the kingdom of God in an individual life is already experienced and anticipated here.”

[6] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.3.2:609: “The Christian is called to be the accompanying and confirming sign of the living Word of God. It thus follows that he must indicate and attest this Word in the act of his whole existence.”

[7] Despite the controversy that was behind the scenes in 1 John, it is clear from 1 Jn. 5:13 that the Elder was seeking “to strengthen Christian believers who might be tempted to doubt the reality of their Christian experience and to give up their faith in Jesus” (cf. Marshall, Epistles of John, 243).

Monday, May 18, 2015

Eyes to See

1 John 5:1-6[1]

I’ve never learned to fly a plane, but I have ridden in a single-engine airplane. It was a fun and interesting experience, but I don’t think riding in a private plane comes anywhere close to the experience of actually flying the plane. One aspect of flying that I find hard to imagine is when pilots have to fly only by their instruments. In bad weather, or situations of extreme darkness, the only thing the pilot has to be able to tell which way is up is the instruments like an artificial horizon, an altimeter, and others. In fact, pilots who have failed to trust their instruments in those situations have crashed because they can literally confuse up with down. I’d have to say riding in a plane when the pilot is flying by instruments only isn’t something I think I would enjoy.

To some extent, I think faith is a little like flying by instruments only. We’re all in the position of entrusting our lives and our future to things we’ve never actually seen with our own eyes. When we embrace the Christian faith, we learn to define our lives by values and convictions that are based on events that we cannot necessarily prove. The resurrection is a case in point. While we have plenty of testimony, both in Scripture and in our own personal experience, what we make of all that is far from certain. I think this can leave us feeling like faith takes us to a place in our lives where we’re flying blind.[2]

One of the statements from our lesson from 1 John for today is a case in point. The Elder emphasizes that, despite the difficulties this world can throw at us, “this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith” (1 Jn. 5:4). In the context, it would seem that he is talking about the victory we experience through our faith in Jesus who won the victory (cf. Jn 16:33).[3] Now, there have been times in my life when I would have given a hearty “Amen” to that. But there have been other times when the language of “victory” has seemed hollow in the face of what life has brought. I have an idea that I’m not alone in that ambiguity surrounding the “victory” of our faith. At the very least I would have to say that there are times in our lives when that “victory” seems less than obvious.[4]

But I don’t believe that’s the whole story. While we cannot verify in a concrete way the convictions and experiences that serve as the basis for our faith, there are other “confirmations” of faith that are available to us. Despite the fact that the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead can strain our imagination, I think we’d have to say that something actually happened on that first Easter Sunday that changed our lives for good. That’s one confirmation. In some way that we simply will never be able to sufficiently explain we also continue to have the experiences of the living Christ in our lives.[5] That’s another confirmation. Through our faith in Jesus who died and rose again for us, we have glimpses of a new life, even though they may seem to be fleeting at just the time when we most long for them. And yet those glimpses can also help us. And finally, the love that we share in the community of faith can help us here.[6] Our lesson for today tells us that our love for one another serves as a confirmation that we love God. I would also say it’s a confirmation that God loves us.[7]

In a very real sense, I would say that one of the tasks that we who would seek to embrace the Christian faith in our day and time face is to develop the eyes to see the “victories” that our faith offers us every day. Most of us have had significant “victories” in life that we would attribute to our faith. But those tend to come sporadically, and perhaps even rarely, in life. It seems to me that we need to find ways to experience what we might call “smaller” victories in our daily lives. We need to find a way to attune our senses to the everyday benefits and commonplace blessings that can keep us going on a regular basis.

I think perhaps the most important way we can develop the eyes to see the victory of our faith on a more daily basis is by cultivating our own spiritual practice.[8] I realize that we can tend to relegate that to Sundays. Or, more realistically, I think we’d have to say many of us relegate it to some Sundays. But our faith is just like any other pursuit in life: when we practice it only occasionally or even haphazardly, we get uneven results. However, when we seek to practice our spirituality as often as possible, both in Sunday worship and in our daily routines, I think we will begin to discover those “commonplace victories” on a more regular basis.[9] I don’t just think this; I know it for a fact from personal experience.

So how do we go about doing that? How do we develop these spiritual “eyes” so see the victory of our faith? There are all kinds of resources available to help us accomplish that. There are Bible reading plans, prayer books, even web-based resources and smartphone apps![10] I’d say if there’s a problem, it’s that we have too many resources to choose from. Some of them can be overwhelming, so I’d recommend you start with something simple. What matters is that you do something as often as possible. We may not be able to pray like monks or nuns, but I think most of us can make more room in our lives for personal worship. Rather than filling the empty spaces of our days with what can sometimes be empty pursuits, we can set aside some of those times for personal worship. To do that, it must become a part of the rhythm of our daily lives. And as with any of life’s pursuits, the more we practice our spirituality, the more we will know the joy that comes from the experiencing the presence of the risen Lord Jesus. The more we attune our senses to the realities that can sometimes take us beyond what we can see, the more we will develop the “eyes” to see the victory of our faith in daily living.

[2] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 2.1:159, where he says that the life of faith involves a feeling of as if we are “suspended and hanging without ground under our feet.”

[3] Cf. D. Moody Smith, First, Second, and Third John, 118: “The person born of God overcomes the world … essentially through faith in Jesus, the one who has already overcome the world (Jn. 16:33).” Cf. similarly, Georg Strecker, The Johannine letters: A commentary on 1, 2, and 3 John, 179-80. Cf. also Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.3.1:172: “From the very outset it is clear and certain what will be the result of His ministry and rule, namely, that His right and might will triumph in opposition to the resistance and challenge offered to Him, removing the challenge and destroying the resistance.”

[4] Cf. Smith, First, Second, and Third John, 119, where he points out that “Jesus speaks of overcoming the world as he goes to his death.”

[5] As Kierkegaard also pointed out, despite all our questions and quandaries, “Christ enters through locked doors.” Cf. Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers, edited by Howard V. Hong, p. 118 (5313, IIA 730).

[6] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 316, where he defines the community of believers as “the fellowship of friends who live in the friendship of Jesus and spread friendliness in the fellowship, by meeting the forsaken with affection and the despised with respect.”

[7] Cf. Smith, First, Second, and Third John, 119: “Love of God and love of our brothers and sisters are mutually dependent.”

[8] Cf. The Book of Order 2013-2015, W-5.2001 (p. 133): “The daily challenge of discipleship requires the daily nurture of worship.” Cf. also ibid., W-5.1003: “The rhythm of the life of the believer moves from worship to ministry, from ministry to worship.”

[9] Cf. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 158, defines worship as “to experience Reality, to touch Life. It is to know, to feel, to experience the resurrected Christ in the midst of the gathered community.” But for this to truly become our experience of corporate worship, he recognizes that we must “learn to practice the presence of God daily” (ibid, 170). Cf. also The Book of Order 2013-2015, W-1.1001 (p. 75): “In worship the people of God acknowledge God present in the world and in their lives. As they respond to God’s claim and redemptive action in Jesus Christ, believers are transformed and renewed.”

[10] Some of the most helpful are the PCUSA Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer Edition; A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God; and the ambitious three volume Divine Hours, by Phyllis Tickle, which simplifies the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Or you can find daily Scripture readings and Psalms for prayer at http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/devotions/, or by searching for “Daily Office” on the internet. PCUSA even has a “Daily Prayer App” for either iOS or Android devices.

The Waking Dreamer