Posted on by Kurt Bodling

theologians must pray

Note:
Cardinal Dulles says theologians must pray. It would seem like a ‘no brainer,’ but I’d bet he knew of some theologians who said they didn’t. Or maybe it was his way of saying that theologians can’t only be book-learning head-knowledge people.

Quote:
“So the theologian must participate in the prayer life of the church and be a praying person himself or herself in order to think the thoughts of God, as we theologians try to do. A theologian who does not pray could hardly be a good theologian.” [emphasis added]

Source: Dulles, Avery Cardinal. “Reason, Faith and Theology.” Interviewer: James Martin, SJ.  America. 5 March 2001 issue. Viewed online 12 December 2015.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

simplicity a safeguard

Note:
Yes, of course, evangelical poverty and evangelical simplicity are looked upon as stupid eccentricities (at worst) or reserved only for the holiest (at best). But that doesn’t mean that followers of Jesus should skip over them. The aims of simplicity are aims of love, Maundy Thursday aims. Surely these are on-going processes in which there is always one more next step to take. And the aims are easier to reach when we don’t have inordinate attachments to stuff.

Quote:
“What has happened to the Franciscan or Buddhist ideal of the rich person who voluntarily becomes poor? Who lauds the one who sets aside life’s complicating muchness for a heart more devotedly and simply given to life’s truly satisfying values? Sad to say, such thinking is relegated by most to the spiritually bizarre edge of cultural appreciation.

“Courageously we need to articulate new and more humane ways to live. The spiritual discipline of simplicity has been a recurrent vision throughout history. It doesn’t need to remain a lost dream; it can be recaptured. In this case, why should not that which can be, be?

“The spiritual discipline of simplicity may be the only safeguard that can sufficiently reorient our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without their destroying us.

“A changed life-style in the direction of simplicity is a faithful witness to a better way to live at peace.” (p. 135)

Source: Sager, Allan H. Gospel Centered Spirituality: An Introduction to our Spiritual Journey. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

formative reading

Note:
What Sager calls “formative reading” is what we would call lectio divina. It isn’t our regular mode of reading (see the first paragraph below). It is slower; receptive rather than acquisitive; meditative rather than argumentative. It seems that so, so many of our reading experiences are, instead, either merely for entertainment or mostly to ferret out where the other guy is wrong so that we can triumphantly correct him. That’s not lectio. Even when we say that we are reading to learn, aren’t we usually in a disputatio mode? What could we learn if we were truly open to the text before us?

Quote:
“Formative reading is the kind of reading that nourishes the life of the spirit. Contrast that with other more typical approaches to reading. Often our approach is informational as we look for ideas and facts to enlighten the mind. Or our approach may be recreational as we just relax and enjoy the story line. At times our approach may be literary as we appreciate or analyze the text for its intrinsic quality and attributes. Or again, our approach may be exegetical when we try to understand the ancient text in its “there and then” meaning.

“Formative reading is slowed down and reflective. It is inspirational rather than informational, and more qualitative than quantitative.

“Formative reading calls for an attitude of receptivity, the grace of appreciation, and participatory engagement.

“The chief requirement of formative reading is to move from a mainly argumentative, rationalistic fault-finding mentality to an appreciative, meditative, confirming mood. We are called to move past challenging or rebuffing the text to a savoring of its timeless values. We are called to listen with inner ears of faith to what God may be saying or doing.

“Formative reading calls for a posture of docility and humility as we accept the gift of enlightenment coming from beyond our control. We expect not only to be touched by what is read, but transformed by it.” (p. 101)

Source: Sager, Allan H. Gospel Centered Spirituality: An Introduction to our Spiritual Journey. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Jesus prayed in solitude

Note:
Wanting to be like Jesus also means wanting to spend time in solitude and prayer. There’s a place for action, but only after contemplative sitting. The latter needs to be a priority.

Quote:
“Solitude and prayer-time alone were important to Jesus. Why is it, I wonder, that we seem more ready to follow Jesus into service than into solitude? Especially before important decisions were to be made, the Bible shows that Jesus took time to be alone with his Father and to reflect before deciding to move to another locale for ministry, before choosing the disciples, before embracing the cross.” (p. 96)

Source: Sager, Allan H. Gospel Centered Spirituality: An Introduction to our Spiritual Journey. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

suffering obedience

Note:
We may say we want to ‘be like Christ’ or to ‘follow Jesus.’ But saying that we often forget that Jesus is always the Suffering Servant. It’s simple: We want to be like Jesus; Jesus suffered; therefore we will suffer. We won’t necessarily suffer to the point of the cross, but we can’t avoid some amount of suffering in this world so out of whack with what God wants.

Quote:
“Christ is the measure of all things for our faith and for our obedience. What characterizes this obedience of Christ and makes it a mark of his messianic quality, as well as an example for his disciples, is not the external performance of good works, which the Pharisees also practiced, but his patient suffering. On this point the evangelists and the other writers of the New Testament are in full agreement. Obedience under the authority of Christ is first and foremost suffering obedience. The ethos of the Sermon on the Mount is first and foremost suffering obedience.” (p. 248)

Source: Elert, Werner. The Christian Ethos. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

motivations for our obedience

Note:
The difference between motivations based in the Law and motivations based in the Gospel is clear. The one is compulsion, the other is freedom. The one arises from fear, the other from love. The one from threats, the other from acceptance.

Quote:
“Obedience under the authority of Christ differs, therefore, from obedience under the law. The law as a law of retribution compels obedience because it offers hopes of reward and the threat of punishment. Motivation springs from a desire for self-preservation. Obedience under Christ’s authority, on the other hand, includes renunciation to the point of sacrifice of self. It is not enough to serve isolated commands, we must fit ourselves into the law of life of him who is the measure of all things. That requires faith, unconditional confidence in his person and his divine authorization.” (p. 248)

Source: Elert, Werner. The Christian Ethos. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

what God wants of us

Note:
A perennial question among (some) Christians is about what is God’s will for our lives, what God wants us to do. In real practical terms. Things like: Should I go to this school or that? Major in this or that? Take this job or not? Marry which person? Buy this car or house, or that one?

Werner Elert explains that — based on what Jesus said in the Gospels (which should carry great authority for His followers) — maybe it just doesn’t matter so much to God. Those kinds of specific answers, those tasks, all that is small potatoes in the Christian life. What matters to the Father, what Jesus tells us, what the Spirit whispers in our ears is that we need to love God and love our neighbor. The specifics we aren’t going to get. We don’t need them. And we absolutely don’t need to stress over them.

Quote:
“If we expect the Lord and Master to assign a definite list of tasks to us, we shall be disappointed. Obedience is usually felt as compulsion. Many experience it as a welcome compulsion which gives them the feeling that they are secured in a stronger will and relieves them of the odious necessity of making their own decisions. However, the quest for particular assignments in specific situations is futile under the authority of Christ. In economic distress or national emergencies we often receive puzzling replies to our questions — How many calories? What shall we eat? What shall we wear? Christ answers: ‘Look at the birds of the air.’ That is unfortunately not the kind of exact answer we want. When I ask where to find shelter, his answer is, ‘The Son of man has not where to lay his head.’ Guidance in legal difficulties? ‘Man, who has made me a judge or divider over you?’ Advice in tax matters? ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.’ ‘Entirely unnecessary,’ says Jesus, whether I should attend a funeral, even though not attending would be socially impossible. It even appears that Jesus mocks the weather forecasters. [Matt. 16:2] If an individual with strong needs of dependency chooses ‘obedience toward Christ’ as a means of receiving specific directions which will relieve him of personal decisions and planning, he will be sadly disappointed.” (p. 251)

Source: Elert, Werner. The Christian Ethos. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

ongoing sanctification

Note:
Sanctification, the ongoing process of becoming holy, is assuredly not an instantaneous once-and-done event. It is a lifelong process, a quest, a journey, a seeking, a falling down and getting up again. It is, of course, driven by God. God cultivates the desire for holiness, sows the seeds in us, gives the growth, prunes the unhelpful and irregular, season after season after season.

Quote:
“We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity — like perfect charity — will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God’s help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. … It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven.” (p. 93-94)

Source: Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan, 1960.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

not the worst sins

Note:
It is striking that much of current Christian culture in America (and is this apparent in other parts of the world?) seems most appalled by sexual sins when they come out in the open, and either ignores or downplays other breaking of God’s commands. Why is this? Is it possible that the tempter wants us to focus on sex in order to get us to paper over hatred, gluttony, theft, and all the rest? I’ve said for years that a sin is a sin is a sin, and that there’s no reason to rank them from worst to least (so often with sexual sins as the worst). Scripture says that all sins are equally abhorrent to our pure and holy God. C. S. Lewis pointed out years ago that “all the worst pleasures are purely spiritual.”

Quote:
“I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that the centre of Christian morality is not here. If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasures of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and backbiting ; the pleasures of power, of hatred.” (p. 94-95)

Source: Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan, 1960.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

sexual temptations

Note:
C.S. Lewis writes about three reasons it is really hard to be fully chaste. If he were writing now, I wonder whether he would especially emphasize the first reason: the overwhelming presence of salacious images and text washing onto our screens. Anyway, the fact that he lists “the contemporary propaganda for lust” first is, in a way, a bit of a comfort in that it might tell us that we are not any more tempted than people nearly 100 years ago were.

Quote:
“[T]here are three reasons why it is now specially difficult for us to desire — let alone achieve — complete chastity. In the first place our warped natures, the devils who tempt us, and all the contemporary propaganda for lust, combine to make us feel that the desires we are resisting are so ‘natural,’ so ‘healthy,’ and so reasonable, that it is almost perverse and abnormal to resist them. … In the second place, many people are deterred from seriously attempting Christian chastity because they think (before trying) that it is impossible. … Thirdly, people often misunderstand what psychology teaches about ‘repressions.’ It teaches us that ‘repressed’ sex is dangerous. But ‘repressed’ is here a technical term: it does not mean ‘suppressed’ in the sense of ‘denied’ or ‘resisted.’ … [T]hose who are seriously attempting chastity are more conscious, and soon know a great deal more about their own sexuality than anyone else.” (p. 92-94)

Source: Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan, 1960.