That's Divine

We us the phrase "I'm only human," as a way of saying, "give me a break, I'm not perfect."

What if saying, "I'm human," instead of using our nature as an excuse, became a symbol of excellence?

When we look at a magnificent piece of art or hear an awe-inspiring concert, we might say, something to the effect of, "That was divine!"

What if in the face of excellence, magnificence, and awe, we began to say, "Now that was human!"

This isn't one more attempt to make ourselves divine. In fact, I believe we have come to use our humanness as an excuse because we so often pressure ourselves and others towards some futile notion of perfection which is neither human, nor divine. This wouldn't erase our shortcomings, inabilities, and anxious tendencies towards cold-heartedness at all.

But perhaps if our language began to change, perhaps our humanity could begin to become a source of motivation, rather than an excuse for mediocrity.

Most of Us Don't Want Spiritual Growth

We live in a wants-based economy. There was a time when we used to purchase and invest our time, money, and attention into things we needed...because we needed them. We have become want-focused to a point that most of us struggle to know the difference between our wants and our needs. A needs-based economy has limited growth potential. A wants-based economy has an insatiable growth potential. That's why the market wants us to want things.

Not many of us want to do the necessary work to grow spiritually. Well, at least we don't want it in a way that we have grown accustomed to wanting things.  I believe we do long for spiritual growth and deep meaning in our lives. Somewhere inside us, something desires this deep meaning even to the point of needing it. One step towards spiritual growth (and church growth) would be to gain clarity about this vital difference between want and need. The next step would be to nurture what is needed. The church is in the business of spiritual growth, feeding the poor, building community...things we need. Leave the wants to retail.

Come on Folks, It's Jesus...

I struck up a conversation the other day with a local pastor who belongs to a more conservative denomination than my own. I'd overheard him talking with another colleague about the other's successful new church start. We somehow came to the topic of missionaries he'd visited in India. He traveled there and worked with them for a couple weeks. The mission of these missionaries, a husband and wife team, was to literally pick up the handicapped of the under caste off the streets, bring them into their home and feed them. Once they established a relationship, they taught these "outcasted" computer skills. These once casted out human beings were eventually able to obtain employment and bring income to the very families that had left them in the streets. This rehabilitation was inconceivable, primarily because no one else would have risked investing the time, energy, compassion, and love into these folks for them to know their potential.

This other pastor and I paused after he finished his story. Both of us shook our heads when we compared this ministry to the institutional ministries we led. That missionary work is where Jesus would have been we agreed. That work in India was a place where Jesus' words, "well done, my good and faithful servants" would have been heard. 

We acknowledged that we each knew enough about the other's denomination that if we had gotten into a discussion over doctrine, church governance, stances on abortion or homosexuality, we would have disagreed bitterly. However, both of us agreed a successful, flourishing new church start was a good and beautiful thing. We both agreed that subverting India's caste system by welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, and caring for (dare I say healing) the sick were good and beautiful things.

Why does it seem ironic to me that we - both liberal and conservative - could agree about Jesus' teachings? Certainly this conversation would not play out the same in all situations. But surely both literalists and those who aren't, can agree on how Jesus asked us to treat the poor? It's right there in the text. Why do we spend so much time on everything else? Perhaps we have too much at stake? Perhaps we are not as willing to take risks as these missionaries?

However we answer these questions, it seems the key to this ecumenical interaction was Jesus. Particularly how Jesus asks us to live our lives in relation to the poor. My experience is that Jesus also gets the attention of the unchurched, de-churched, and secular humanists, folks of all generations (even the generations missing in our churches). Not the died for your sins Jesus, not just be nice and mind your manners Jesus, but the radical boundary crossing, counter-cultural, love and compassion at any cost Jesus.

Ecumenism, pluralism, church growth, and spiritual growth can all begin with this Jesus.

How long will we make these things about something else?