Consuming our Neighbors

The following story is inspired by Tim Vivian’s translation of an ancient story from the desert wisdom.

A widow had a son who she could not keep fed. The son would eat pounds of bread each day. He hunger was so insatiable that the son would even turn to his excrement. She was fearful that her son would eat through all that she was left with but also was fearful that if she did not feed her son he would die. The widow took the boy to a holy man, Abba Macarius, who, it was said, could heal the boy. When Macarius heard how much the boy was fed each day, he grew angry.

He said, “Do you know why your son was so hungry? When his father died you were left with a large inheritance, more than you needed to live your days. You have not shared your abundance with those in need. Scripture teaches that we will be judged and treated the way we judge and treat others. Your son’s hunger is the result of your stinginess towards others. Cut in half what you feed him and then give the other half to the poor, powerless and infirm who live near you. Only then will your son’s hunger will subside.”

The widow had more than she new what to do with so she gave it to her son in excess. In doing so, her son was eating more than the bread but eating away at the lifeline that the poor and powerless could have for survival. Macarius’ teaching is as old as wisdom: when we practice generosity we discover that we have more than we need and stinginess corrodes the community. When we are generous we do not “run out”. However, if we remain stingy and focus only on our own desires then we will in fact consume all that we have, including our neighbors.

In the debates of what should or what should we not give to people who are un/under-employed, this story rings in my ears. If we believe that our abundance cannot be given away to others in need, because we will run out of the abundance we have inherited or that our gift will be squandered, then we will in fact run out of our inheritance. However, if we were generous with our inheritance with those in need we may discover that there will be more than enough.

The Telos and The Scopos

The second chapter of John Cassian’s work entitled “The Conferences of Desert Fathers” begins with Abba Moses expressing the following:

All the arts and sciences, said he (Moses), have some goal or mark; and end or aim of their own, on which the diligent pursuer of each has his eye, and so endures all sorts of toils and dangers and losses, cheerfully and with equanimity.

Then in chapter four Moses is to have said:

The end of our profession indeed, as I said, is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven; but the immediate aim or goal, is purity of heart, without which no one can gain that end: fixing our gaze then steadily on this goal, as if on a definite mark, let us direct our course as straight towards it as possible, and if our thoughts wander somewhat from this let us revert to our gaze upon it, and check them accurately as by a sure standard, which will always bring back all our efforts to this one mark, and will show at once if our mind has wandered ever so little from the direction marked out for it.

Abba Moses taught the end is the kingdom of God while the goal is purity of heart. What that means is that Abba Moses thought that in order to reach the end (Kingdom of God) we must focus on the goal (purity of heart). We cannot reach the Kingdom of God without purity of heart but if we have purity of heart we are more likely to reach the Kingdom of God.

The difference in the telos and the scopos is made clearer by the Stoic Arius who said that the scopos is the target we shoot for while the telos is hitting the target. I think of it like a golfer hitting the ball is scopos while the cup is the telos.

The UMC spends a lot of her time working to achieve the end (make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world) and we are failing. Not because it is an incorrect ends/telos (although we only adopted this mission statement in full just twelve years ago), but because paradoxically we are more likely to hit the target if we focus on our scopos, not our telos. A golfer is more likely able to land the ball near the cup (telos) if they focus on hitting the ball (scopos). In fact taking your eyes off the ball and looking at the cup is a detriment to actually getting the ball into the cup! The golfer who focuses on the ball (scopos) and not the cup (telos), has to trust that by doing so they will get closer to their telos.

Many in the universal Church are fascinated at landing the ball in the cup that there is little time given to focus on the stance, ball, swing and follow through.

Focusing on making disciples for the transformation of the world then is like focusing on the cup and not on the ball. We are focused on the scorecard and not on the swing. We are focused on something that, regardless of its virtue, decreases our chances to actually land the ball well.

Rather than focusing on the end, the cup, the making disciples, I wonder if we were to shift our eyes and focus on that which will be more helpful to reach the same ends? What if were to take the advice of Abba Moses and have the goal of purity of heart. Or perhaps Jesus who said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

It is my conviction that pastors are much more interested in cultivating the heart of a person than to make a disciples, because a disciple can still betray and deny Jesus, but one who is the heart of Christ cannot do anything but love like Christ. What would a Church look like if we were to focus on cultivating purity of heart?

“But”, Richard Beck says, “hearts aren’t easily changed. You can’t change hearts with pep talks, protests, podcasts, Facebook rants, tweets, or a really good sermon. Hearts require spiritual formation through habits and practices that directly address the social and psychological dynamics at work that keep us from seeing and welcoming each other.”

Can We Learn From the Secularist?

One of the great things I appreciate about the desert spirituality of the late antiquity period of Christianity is the deep humility of the Ammas/Abbas. They were sought out for their wisdom but several stories of these wise teachers show that it is they who are the ones in need of learning. Here is among one of my favorites taken from Tim Vivian’s book “Becoming Fire”:

A person of devout life who was not a monk came to see Abba Poemen. Now it happened that there were other brothers with the old man, asking to hear a word from him. The old man said to the faithful secular, ‘Say a word to the brothers’.

When he insisted, the secular said, ‘Please excuse me, abba; I myself have come to learn.”

But he was urged on by the old man and so he said, ‘I am a secular. I sell vegetables and do business; I take bundles to pieces and make smaller ones; I buy cheap and sell dear. What is more, I do not know how to speak of the Scriptures, so I will tell you a parable: A man said to his friends, “I want to go to see the emperor; come with me”. One friend said to him, “I will go with you half the way”. Then the man said to another friend, Come and go with me to the emperor”. and the friend said to him, “I will take you as far as the emperor’s palace”. The man said to a third friend, “Come with me to the emperor”. The friend said, “I will come and take you to the palace and I will stay and speak and help you have access to the emperor”’.

The brothers asked what the point of the parable was.

The secular answered them, ‘The first friend is asceticism, which leads the way; the second is chastity, which take us to heaven; the third is alms-giving, which with confidence presents us to God our King’.

The bothers withdrew, edified.

Here is Abba Poemen divesting his privilege so another, presumably one who is seen as less than the Abba, can teach. The divestment of power by Poemen is not just humble but a humility that is inspired by the Christ.

The fancy Greek word is kenosis. It means to self-empty. It is what God does in Christ by becoming human. It is what Christ does on the cross by dying. It is was the Holy Spirit does by dispersing to all people. It is what the Church is supposed to be doing when it comes to our position of power by being quite so that others can be heard.

Divestment is not something that people in power are too keen on. I know that I struggle with it. However, divestment of power is the way of leadership that is most needed today. Divestment of power, the self-emptying and kenosis of Christ is what we are called to do but we in power resist it. We are threatened by it. We presume that our ways are not only the best ways but THE WAY. We think that it is we who should be heard because we have the education and people come to us, but until we in power learn that kenosis is our call we only contribute to the cycle of violence and blame.

Poemen divested his power in this position and protected the secular one (the stranger and foreigner). Poemen made the audacious claim that the scandalous one has something to teach, has something of value. Poemen modeled to the brothers what Arsenius said that he can know “Latin and Greek, but I (we) do not know even the alphabet of the peasant (the other).”

Many Church leaders tend to think that being in but not of this world means that the culture has nothing to teach or offer the Church. That the Church should in fact learn nothing but be the teachers of culture. It is assumed that if the culture teaches or values something that is contrary to the Church then it is the culture that is wrong.

And yet, Poemen and Arsenius thought it was good to learn from the culture and peasant. Almost as though the culture and peasant have something that is closer to the heart of Christ than the Church does.

What can we learn from the secularist?