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Breaking the Chains that Bind Posts

Receiving…or being Received

Published by mhelbert on December 26, 2011
This morning as I was spending time with God, I read this in Thomas à Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, “I desire, Lord, to give myself to You as a voluntary offering and to be Yours eternally. With a sincere heart I give myself to You this day, as Your servant forever, wishing to serve You in obedience and as a sacrifice of endless praise. Receive me…”
Receive me. These words jumped off of the page at me. The text from à Kempis was in the context of the Eucharist. So, I can see how ‘receiving’ is related to sharing the Body and Blood. Receiving the elements in a manner that brings a reality to Christ’s offering himself on our behalf. But, something else also caught my brain. In many religious circles people are taught that they must ‘receive Christ.’ Receive him as Lord and/or Saviour. This concept is taken directly from the Gospel according to John 1:12, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (2011 NIV). This is one verse. One verse that has been used to define an entire generation, or more, of church-goers. But, does it accurately reflect who we are to become in Christ? Reception of something infers the conferring of ownership and control. When I receive a gift, it becomes mine. I own it. I can control it. Now, I am confident that when pressed no one would acknowledge that this is their motivation. I’m sure that they would say that the idea is more about sharing in the life and mission of Jesus in a personal way. But, I’ve heard way too many speak of Jesus in manner that indicates otherwise. There is a sense that I am in control of my faith and destiny rather than fellow-workers with the Holy Spirit.
I see, rather, a sense in the Scripture that we have been, and are being, received by Christ. The Gospels are full of stories about Jesus searching, seeking, turning things upside down to find a lost coin, leaving the herd in search of the one. This so he could receive us brothers, sisters and mothers. John continued by stating that no one could snatch those that belonged to him, (re. those he had received), from his hand. It appears that Jesus is the One who desires to be in control. By ‘receiving’ all things, he is claiming His rightful place as κύριος, Lord, over all. Paul got it. Throughout his epistles he wrote of Jesus being Lord over all things. In 1 Cor. 15: 25 he wrote that all things would be subjected to Christ, who would be himself subjected to God. Then all things would be “all in all.” I don’t get the sense that God is taking anything other than dominion over enemies. All other things seem to have been received. I know this is a stretch, but I want to make the point that it is we who are received by God through Christ. We who are subjects of the Divine reign. We who have been found and secured by Jesus. We, who together with the rest of creation, are held in God’s hand, protected, nourished, loved on, cared for because we are God’s. Not because God is ours. As I reflected on this, I was compelled to join with the Apostle Paul and exclaim, “For from him and through him are all things. To him be the glory forever? Amen” (Rom. 11:36).
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Merry Christmas!

Published by mhelbert on December 25, 2011

It’s Dec. 25, 2011. A day that we in the Christian world celebrate the birth of Jesus the Messiah. Christ followers around the world will participate in whatever cultural celebrations that they can. Here, we will gather with family for a not-so-quiet day of cooking, cleaning, talking, eating, unwrapping, more cleaning then goodbyes with well-wishes.
Today I think that we will do something a little different. I want to celebrate the Eucharist with my family. The Eucharist! At Christmas? Isn’t that an Easter kind of thing?
Well, yes it is. But, if we understand the supper as a time of communion with God, then what better time to celebrate that then when we celebrate Yahweh’s breaking into time and history to commune with us? If the Eucharist is a time when Christ’s presence is with us, how much better is it a time to remember Emmanuel, God (present) with us?
I wish any who visit this a blessed holiday, but more than that, I wish you an experience. An experience of God’s blessed presence through Christ the Messiah, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
God Bless Y’all!

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Christmas Eve….plans don’t always work

Published by mhelbert on December 25, 2011

This morning I had plans. I planned to finish my Christmas shopping. One last thing for my wife. Then, clean the house and finish wrapping gifts. The sun was shining and all was well with the world. Plans were in place for a quiet evening at home in front of a fire. A light supper and a time for gifting my mother in law. Then, I got a call from my brother. My dad was heading to the emergency room via ambulance. He had an episode that caused him to become very weak. We met at the hospital and waited. That ‘s one of the main activities at hospitals…waiting. All the test results were normal. However, the doctors in their inimitable wisdom decided to keep him overnight for observation. In case you hadn’t noticed, none of this was part of the plan. God knows the real plan. Sometimes it would be nice if God would let us in on the plan. But, then, I guess that’s not part of the plan. We are giving thanks that dad seems to be out of any danger and will be home soon. Why do these plan breakers happen? I haven’t clue. If I did, I suppose that would make me god. We’re all better off if I’m not. Plans? Well, they change. Someone moves the cheese and we need to punt. How do we respond to these kinds of plan changes? I turn to Brian McLaren for this. In Naked Spirituality, he wrote about how folks can respond to unexpected, in his case tragedy, for me plan changes, in a couple different ways. We can say that God has planned the problem, it was “preengineered intentionally by God. Or, we can explain it away as the nature of things with evil in the world. The third way is to look to the future. We can ask, “What possible good in the future can be brought out of this [change of plans] in the present?” That is the way I think I will approach this. Yeah, my plans got changed, but God is still God and I’m not. I’m glad of that.

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Communion…God’s choice

Published by mhelbert on December 23, 2011

I am impressed by the apparent understanding of the Incarnation and presence of God that the Roman church demonstrates. Or, as it was understood by à Kempis. He wrote that the Supper revealed Christ’s goodness, charity; humility as He bent down toward humanity. For him, Christ is present in the bread and wine that is regularly shared with the church. So, they regularly share in His presence. While I don’t see this understanding in the Scripture, I do think that there is a reality here that we protestants miss. That is that Yahweh, by His own choice, bent down and took on flesh in order to bring God’s dominion and presence to the world. This is huge! The Eucharist is one of the best symbols to describe this. While we tend to give intellectual assent to the concept of Incarnation, we do not always reflect on the magnitude of God’s love and care for the creation. Perhaps, we simply take it for granted. Perhaps, because of our protestant views of taking communion our vision is blurred. But, I think we should remember that it was God’s initiative to commune with us, not our attempts to be with God. We have the opportunity to reflect and remember that Christ came and gave his body and blood so that we can be sustained and nourished by him. It is his goodness, charity & humility that allows us to share in the divine presence. No, I don’t believe in transubstantiation. But, I do believe in celebrating the Lord’s abiding presence.

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As the Story goes…….

Published by mhelbert on December 22, 2011

I have long contended that the Bible is essentially a love story from Yahweh to the cosmos. From Genesis to Revelation there are all of the elements of a good story that conveys and interprets meaning. Derek Flood looked at this idea and came up with some lessons we would all benefit from.
http://www.therebelgod.com/2011/07/god-at-movies-why-faith-is-about-story.html
I think that this is a topic that we may continue to look at from time to time.

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Prepared for the presence of Christ

Published by mhelbert on December 22, 2011

Today I was reading Thomas à Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, as I often do for a devotional. He shared about being properly prepared to experience Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. I am not from the Roman tradition and do not appreciate any kind of -substantiation, so some of what à Kempis wrote has no resonance with me. However, his position on contrition and humility before Christ did. He wrote that Noah, Moses and Solomon all prepared vessels that represented God’s presence for salvation. David danced, sang and psalmed before God. This reveals how people should act in the presence of God…with joyful abandon and all of our being. God’s presence is a big deal!
Earlier this week I was also reminded that God is, in fact, always present within God’s good creation. I thank Brian McLaren’s book Naked Spirituality for bringing this back to my mind. God is indeed present. It becomes our responsibility to be present with God.
With à Kempis’ writing as a back drop, how then should we prepare to engage God in God’s immanent presence? Should we not live as humble, contrite people who are favored to enter into the presence of the Great Creator? While we don’t have boats or boxes or buildings, we are, ourselves, vessels that contain the Spirit and real presence of Christ. At this time of year, especially, it would be a good thing for we who call ourselves followers of Christ to reflect on the merciful, loving presence of Abba Father, Jesus the Messiah and the Holy Breath of Yahweh in our lives.

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More prayer stuff

Published by mhelbert on December 21, 2011

Back in October of 2010 I posted about Prayer Tools. In it I shared a couple things that I do that help me to pray. Today I’d like to add to that.
Many years ago I had heard the term “breath prayer.” As I understand it, these are very short prayer offerings that can be said in the time it takes a person to take a breath, (Inhale/Exhale). While in a Spiritual Disciplines class at Ashland I found one such prayer in one of our texts. It is a prayer that is ancient. Today we know it as the “Jesus Prayer.” It has a couple different looks. One is simply “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me.” The iteration that I have found most helpful is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” This can be said within the span of 1 breath. It also embodies truth about who Jesus is, and in relation, who I am. I confess that Jesus Christ alone is the Messiah; Lord; Christ. I also confess that this Jesus is the Son of God. (Sometimes I substitute ‘Son of the Living God.’) The prayer ends with supplication, a plea for Jesus’ mercy. It is only this mercy that comes to me from Jesus’ grace.
This simple prayer may not seem like much, but throughout the course of my day when I say it, my attention is drawn to Christ’s presence with me. It helps me to re-focus away from the stress and hassles of the day and toward the peace and reality that comes from God alone. Scripture instructs that we never cease to pray. This prayer is one that, through repetition and reflection, can help one to do just that.

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Life with Jesus on the Ground

Published by mhelbert on December 21, 2011

Read the following that I found over at brianmclaren.net.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-raushenbush/shane-claiborne-new-monastics_b_1156525.html?ref=religion

Back in the 1970’s I was a part of  a community of Christ followers who desired to live radically for Jesus. We were part of the Jesus Movement of that day and chose a communal way to live that out. So, I can readily identify with these New Monastics. Following Christ is active. Follow is a verb. There’s no such thing as Couch Potatoes for Jesus. The last few months this has been driven home me in many ways. Hopefully, prayerfully, the future will see more “lived faith” than discussed theories of faith.

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Fruit Bearers

Published by mhelbert on December 20, 2011

Recently, I heard a pastor deliver a message in which he expounded on the need for Christians to bear fruit. He then went on to look at Galatians 5, stating that was the only place in the NT that really discussed fruit, (sorry, wrong). He deduced that the lists in that text reveal that fruit in the NT deals with character issues, (again, not so correct). Now, I don’t want to be too hard on this person. This is the kind of stuff that is offered from pulpits in many, many evangelical churches. It’s about me and Jesus and how I treat my wife, kids, and members of my church group.
But, I think that there is a little more to bearing fruit than simply thinking the right things and behaving in a particular manner. There is the idea of service to those outside of our own groups. Caring for all who are poor, homeless, hungry, sick, blind, lame, unemployed, orphans…and the list goes on. John the baptizer told the crowds who came to him to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. He then explained what that was; “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” To the tax collectors he said, “”Don’t collect any more than you are required to.” Even to the soldiers he exhorted them, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely–be content with your pay.”
Jesus stated in Mat. 7 that folks would recognize false prophets by their fruit. He then showed what he meant: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” To make it clear what he was not talking about, he added, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'” It seems that the religious stuff isn’t the kind of fruit that we need to be concerned with. There were proper things to do, maybe like the whole of the Sermon on the Mount that preceded this statement.
Even Paul got it right. Colossians 1:10 states, “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” In every good work? Yes! Fruit bearing is being “doers of the word.” not simply listening or giving lip service. Ok, it also involves good character. But, it’s not limited to that. In fact, I think that good works will necessarily come out of a people of good character. The converse is also true. The verses following Col. 1:10 explain that endurance and patience, (and good character?), will result from doing good works. If we wait for character to develop on its own, good works may never happen.

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