Over the years I’ve heard a lot, read a lot, and generally had ideas about the so-called Spiritual Disciplines swirling around me like a swarm of mosquitoes.
Yeah, I chose that metaphor purposefully.
The voices from Church leaders and non-leaders have been little more than a buzz in my ears with the occasional blood-sucking bite on the neck. (Vampire bugs!)
Richard Foster and his rather vacuous 1978 book “Celebration of Discipline” was a mainstay for so many. In the circles I was involved with, that book was pretty much used to shame us. It gave leaders another cudgel to condemn us. None of us could follow all that Foster wrote. Yet, when we failed we were reminded of how none of us were either strong enough or committed enough to perform even Foster’s simple exercises.
As I got older and gained more experience I began to understand that people can’t just ‘decide’ to ‘will’ their way into practices that allow the kind of practices that Foster and others prescribed. At best, then, these books and resources provide folks with a variety of practices that people have found useful over the years. They could offer us the ingredients, just not the recipes.
I found that only God’s own gravity of Grace can draw people into that orbit where that thing called Spiritual Formation takes place. No amount of self-will or self-discipline can move our hearts even a millimeter in that direction.
Once God does act, however, almost anything can become a Spiritual Practice that leads to new experiences. Experiences that enlarge hearts and create empathy. Experiences that bring freedom to speak freely to God without fear or timidity.
That brings me to the point of all of these words today.
I want to introduce a new Spiritual Practice.
Well, I’m sure it’s not new. But, I don’t recall ever hearing about it.
It’s called “Argument.”
Or, if you want, call it “Disagreement.”
With whom am I talking about Arguing with?
Well, God, of course.
Who else?
That may sound strange. So many of us have been taught that God is all-knowing and, most importantly, ALWAYS right.
For these people the idea of arguing with God is akin to heresy and is a fast-track to finding oneself in Hell.
I feel kind of sorry for people who think this. Their god is too small.
I mean, think about it. If God is Who we have been taught, you know, Supreme Being and all of that, do you think that this God could possibly be threatened or offended by our puny human arguments?
Don’t think too hard about that. The correct answer in “No.”
There are precedents in the Bible.
Abraham seemed to argue, well at least tried to ‘bargain,’ with God in that little matter of Sodom. Job tried to argue with God over his perceived wrong treatment. Jeremiah argued that he was unfit for the calling that God had for him.
Shoot, Jesus argued with the Father in Gethsemane. “Father, please, don’t make me drink from this cup!”
Now, in all of these, God’s side of things was ultimately followed.
That’s not the point I want to make.
I want to make and argument for, well, arguing!
And, that, as a Spiritual practice that can open us up to receive more of God’s Grace and Presence.
I’ve had many disagreements with the way I perceive God’s hand in my life. Like so many, I tried to stuff these feelings by believing that because I am just a human I must be wrong.
“Not my will, but Yours, O God” is the mantra we’re taught to repeat.
I’m sorry, but that response is just so inadequate on so many levels.
It makes the assumption that humans are little more than toddlers who have no idea what might be good and helpful. I makes God into a benevolent dictator who may or may not tolerate our perceived insolence.
Both of those assumptions are categorically wrong.
We are Ikons of God who carry within us the very image of God. We are fellow workers who are entrusted with the Stewardship of this world in which we live.
Hardly toddlers.
God may be benevolent, but God is No dictator. The whole idea of Free Will puts the lie to that.
Ok, so what?
What does that have to do with argument and Spiritual Formation?
Everything!!
It reveals that we are taken seriously by God.
God Listens!
When I argue with God it implies that there are two voices interacting.
No argument is one-sided by definition.
So, I ‘hear’ God’s voice.
That voice may rebut. That happens with regularity.
Sometimes, though, the voice says, “About time you thought of that!”
God seems to actually enjoy it when we use our brains to work through an argument and come to the correct and logical conclusion!
More importantly, I feel, is that when we feel free enough to argue with God, God is pleased.
Our relationship is confirmed. Not as equals or even peers. But, as two parties in lively engagement.
Some of the most intimate experiences I’ve had with God have been in the midst of real Knock-down, drag-out bouts of In-Your_Face disagreement.
In the end, I feel that God has honored me by engaging with me on a deep, visceral plane.
And, I think God is pleased that I am not simply willing to be dragged along a willing fool.
So, yeah, I think that Argument can be listed among Spiritual Practices that Christ-followers should embrace.
We should not fear to offend God.
Nor, should we simply acquiesce to things that we think are unjust or simply wrong.
God is not that dismissive Father who says, “Shaddup, Kid!”
No, God seems to desire that we learn to BE intelligent fellow-workers in the Cosmos.