Getting Distracted in Prayer? Rejoice.

There is a story that I came across some many years ago and for the life of me I cannot locate the source. (If you know where this is from I would love to know!) The gist of the story is:

A student was frustrated that he was getting distracted in his prayer and meditation. He went to the teacher and expressed what he saw to be a problem. The teacher, after seeing the distress in her student said to be thankful for the distractions. She then saw a shock come over her student and she went on to explain, "each distraction is an opportunity to return to the heart of God." 

The distractions in prayer and meditation are going to happen. If we cannot return (repent) to a simple prayer or moment of silence, then we are going to have a difficult time returning (repenting) to God or neighbor when we really screw up. The distractions are an opportunity to practice returning when the stakes are really low. 

The Spiritual Movement From Mimicking to Imitating Jesus

In a few places in Paul's letters, he speaks about imitating him or imitating Christ (1 Corinthians 4 and 11 also in Philippians 3). In my translations the invitation is to imitate not to mimic. I raise this for consideration because at least one distinction between imitating and mimicking is the direction of trust. Here is what I mean.

My sons are four and nine years old and they will, as children are prone to do, mimic my behavior. They parrot my words and mirror my actions. They trust that by mimicking me they are learning the things needed to survive and do well. Likewise, Christians trust Jesus and mimic him. Jesus shows us how to live and in mimicking him we grow and learn.

The direction of trust when we mimic flows from the student to the teacher. This is flow is inverted when we imitate. 

As my sons grow older, it is my hope that they would slow their mimicking and increase their imitating. This movement requires that I as their father trust them to act in ways that I would hope they would act. I will not be able to control their actions or be present in every situation for them to know how to mimic. I have to trust my sons in order for them to imitate me. I have to give them freedom of choice and the possibility of failing or, even experience pain. 

Likewise, Jesus is no longer physically present walking with each of us. We are not able to mimic him when it comes to contemporary problems and issues. How do we mimic Jesus in the face of the climate crisis? How would we mimic Jesus in knowing the ethicacy in the science of genetics?

Those who trust Jesus, over time begin to see that Jesus trusts us. Jesus does not desire us to stay at the mimic stage (all be it an important stage). Jesus desires us to mimic him so that we can move to imitating him. We will mess up. We will feel pain and suffering. We will miss the mark and participate in sin. The Good News is in part the reality that as imitators of Christ we are forgiven and trusted. 

It is safe to mimic Christ. It is faithful to imitate Christ. Asking "what would Jesus do?" is a question for mimicking. Asking "what is Jesus trusting me to do/be?" is a question for imitators.

The Bible is Full of Allegory - Just Ask Paul

Shoes made for traveling, are tied together on a light pole.

It is an allegory for life.

These days anytime you speak about the Bible you often have to qualify your love for the Bible before you speak. Even if you are saying nice things about the Bible, it is often the case that many of us qualify our comments least someone interprets what we are saying as diminishing the Bible.

It is annoying. It is annoying because it makes critical (important) conversations much more difficult because there is a fear that you will be cast as someone who does not take the Bible "as seriously" as another. Words like "high view of scripture" or "historic understanding" are often flowery language used to imply that any other interpretation is less than and cannot be trusted. It is 2017 and I thought we could get past this by now, but here we are:

I love the Bible. I take it seriously. Like others I have tried to be absorbed by the Bible and her conversations. And so it is not a "knock" or a sign of disrespect of the Holy Scriptures or an invitation to a slippery slope leading to tossing the Bible out the door when I say - the Bible is full of Allegory. 

Just ask Paul.

"Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother." - Galatians 4:21-26

This is just a reminder that when someone says the Bible is full of allegory, this is not a backdoor into undermining the authority of Scripture. The Bible is full of all sorts of things from allegory to poem to prose to history to every genre you can imagine. The Bible is not to be read literally - Even Paul did not read it literally. 

Allegory in the Bible is not less than True. It is more than True.

It is Holy.

"Reading the Statisticians of Our Predicament Rather Than the Prophets of Our Deliverance"

R.R. Reno

Give and Take is a conversation podcast that can be very heady and wonky for those who love theology. Frankly, the people on this podcast are too smart for me to always follow and I am humbled every time I listen - I just am not as smart as I want to think that I am.

Recently, Scott Jones (the host) had a conversation with R. R. Reno (AKA Rusty). I was introduced to R. R. Reno in Seminary via a book he wrote called In the Ruins of the Church. When I heard this podcast, I wanted to just jot down a few great ideas that came from this conversation, so that I don't forget them. I hope these notes are as inspiring to you as there are for me. 

Among the gems that I found in this conversation was the idea that too much of our time is spent reading the statisticians of our predicament rather than the prophets of our deliverance. I am aware of how much I spend reading about the "predicament" we are in. I know that it is critical to diagnose the illness before treatment can begin. It seems clear to me that too many of us (self included) are parsing diagnostic words but few prophets are discussing what the treatment is for such ills. 

We are not able to listen to these prophets for at least two reasons. First is human nature. Prophets call us to account and call us to change. Humans have done a very good job at killing prophets in our world; this is an ancient problem.

The other reason we don't listen to prophets sharing solutions feels newer. We may not listen to the prophets of our deliverance because we do not have consensus on what the problem is. 

Moses was a prophet and he was not killed by his people. Why? Perhaps it is because there was a consensus on what the problem was - the people were enslaved. There was a deep agreement that slavery is the "predicament" and so it is easier to hear the prophet who is speaking deliverance to that predicament.

I grow frustrated about how much time I spend on understanding the predicament, I also know that until there is a sense of what the "problem is" we will never be able to hear the prophet lead us toward the path of healing.