Vol 2:37 The Soul of God: A Missional Credo – Living as Jesus

As I further explore insights from Ray Anderson’s theological memoir, The Soul of God, I continue to be deeply influenced in being shaped in living missionally.      

In the second chapter of The Soul of God, Ray Anderson shares regarding the humanity of Jesus as to what it meant that he was sent – as a way of shaping how we are sent.  I share his statement here without comment – it is for me a missional credo. 

“As Jesus was: In the midst of a religious culture that prized appearance and cultivated form, Jesus appeared clothed simply in grace and truth.  He refused to recognize as spiritual that which was artificial and affected.  He valued the truth of being and doing over the righteousness of words and prayers.  Both in the street and in the temple, he uses one language for both the saint and the sinner.  He stated divine realities in terms of human experience.  His life-style was that of a human person living among humans.  Because he was the truth, he had no fear of exposure, nothing to defend.

            Because he was human, he had no fear of humanness, in himself or others.  Because he came in love, he had no fear of love – he was open to all who were open to him.

So we should be: A real Christian must also be a genuine human being.  Spiritual growth is manifested in those who demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in relationship with others (Gal. 5:22-23).  The Christian is to be related to one’s own society in the same way that Christ was related to the world (John 17:18).  The test for truth in a Christian is what the world sees of Jesus Christ in us, not what other Christians see of themselves in us.

            We are committed to live a transparent life, willing to be known for who we really are, not only by who we say we are.

            We are committed to live in openness toward others, accepting them as Christ has accepted us, having a spirit of tolerance toward others who do not share our concepts or convictions.  Yet we know that openness is not permissiveness, and tolerance is not compromise.

            We are committed to the fact that a Christian has anxieties, temptations, moods, doubts, frustrations and problems.  This is what it means to be human.

            We are committed to have no ulterior motive or religious device in our love for God or our love for our neighbor: that is, we are committed to authenticity” (Anderson, The Soul of God, 25).

Well, maybe one comment:  To seek to be authentic in this way is to seek to live missionally. 

And also a prayer: This I know I do not have within me, unless the Spirit of God enables me. 

Spirit of God take hold of me,

shape me, transform me,

so that I might live as Jesus

– authentically and missionally.

Vol 2:36 The Soul of God: Deconstructing an Abstract God

I am further exploring insights I have gained from reading Ray Anderson’s theological memoir, entitled, The Soul of God.  Ray Anderson.  As mentioned in last week’s blog, he has had a tremendous influence in my life, shaping much of my understanding and engagement of pastoral ministry.    

In the second chapter of The Soul of God, Ray Anderson expresses that “the abstract concepts of God which stirred my intellectual self now left my soul undernourished and unfulfilled.  I did not doubt that they were true, but they no longer satisfied my search for truth” (p. 23). 

He continues by saying that too many of us have abstract concepts of God, or we understand God as being distant from us, aloof from us.  Abstract concepts of God are “disconnected from people’s daily lives” (p, 23).

In response he presents Jesus as one who deconstructs God’s abstraction by being the very exegesis of God.  He states, “Jesus is not only one who touches our own human souls with grace and truth, he is the very soul of God in human form.  Theologians call it incarnation, which is the Latin translation of the Greek phrase, ‘became flesh’ (John 1:14).  John does not shrink from telling us that the one whom we call Jesus is identical in being with God and, in fact, the very exegesis of the Father.  When we use the term [exegesis], we refer to the discipline of expounding and explaining the exact meaning of a text of Scripture.  John uses the very Greek word when he says that God’s only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, ‘has made him known [exegeomai]’ (John 1:17)” (p. 23).

Anderson further expresses: “Jesus is literally the exegesis of the soul of God” (p. 23). 

The ministry of Jesus was connecting the heart and presence of God with the people whom God loves – which encompasses all humanity.  Jesus did this not merely as a representative, but as God in human flesh, exegeting the very soul of God, so that we might be in relationship with God up close and personal.  There is nothing aloof or distant about God’s encountering of us.

How is this significant in our being the missional people of God? 

In being the sign of God’s present and coming reign, we as God’s people are also to be about exegeting the presence of God – i.e., that we are so open to God’s life and presence within us that whomever we encounter and whomever encounters us can encounter God personally.  We are no mere representatives, carrying God as a name on our business cards; we are ones who are God-carriers, Christ-carriers, Spirit-carriers who bring the presence of God into every situation, every context, every encounter we find ourselves in.

Our being in mission – participating with God in God’s redemptive mission, is to make God known, not as ones who tell about God, but as ones who are indwellt by the presence of the Living God – indwellt by the Spirit of God.

We come to know the Living God through the Living Christ – and we share the Living Christ with others as we live our lives deeply rooted in Christ’s presence.

The way we live in Christ’s presence involves an intentionality in our living – we do not merely live for ourselves, but we come to the place of realizing that all our living is for the sake of God, every aspect of who we are is rooted in Christ, our identities find their fullest expression in being identified in Christ – so that we along with Paul, in Galatians 2:20, can express that “we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us and through us.” 

I admit, more times than not, my life is a poor exegesis of Christ, but it is my prayer each and every day that my life indeed who be an exegesis of Jesus, who is the exegesis of the very soul of God.

Vol 2:33 Mission and Evangelism: Living Life through “Gospel Filters”

Ben Campbell Johnson in Speaking of God: Evangelism as Initial Spiritual Guidance expresses the process of discernment as listening through “gospel filters” (cf. p. 121). 

I would like to take that a step further by asking the question as to how we live our lives through “gospel filters.”  This is not a way of seeing through “rosy tinted glasses” which causes us to see what we want to see, but seeing and living life through “gospel filters” is about living and doing life, all of life, in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of the Reign of God.

This is a way of engaging life, engaging whomever we meet, through the eyes of Jesus.  How does Jesus look at, respond to what is going on in our lives, the relationships we have, the encounters we make, if he were living our lives.  In fact, as we confess that our life is hidden in Christ, that we have been baptized not only into his death, but also his resurrection, we can confess that Jesus is living our lives – or we are living Jesus’ life.  I am the first to admit that my life looks more like my own, my agendas, my passions, etc., but as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I commit myself each day to live my life rooted and grounded in Jesus – so that he might live in me and through me.

And in light of that confession, I realize that it is my desire to live my life through the eyes of Christ – through “gospel filters.” 

Campbell-Johnson gives voice to this by alluding to the “I am” sayings of Jesus and seeing the life we live through the gospel filter of these “I am” declarations (cf. pp. 123-127).  These statements by Jesus are: I am the bread of life (John 6:35); I am the light of the world (John 8:12); I am the door of the sheep (John 10: 7); I am the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11); I am the vine (John 15: 5); I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6); and one he misses, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).

So, for example, Campbell-Johnson states in relation to Jesus’ “I am the bread of life” that this “points to the nature of God as the one who nurtures and sustains us” (p. 123).  Or, in relation to Jesus’ “I am the light of the world” that this points to Christ as the one who “enables persons to understand the meaning of their lives and illumines the direction for them to take” (p. 124).

To live out lives with “gospel filters” means to immerse ourselves in Jesus Christ – to live into the way he sees the world, the way he regards people, the way he engages situations.  In essence, it is to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world, in the same way Jesus lived and ministered in light of God’s redemptive mission in the world.

This is not a mere adding of religion to our lives, it is rooting our whole being in the life of Jesus Christ – for us to more than become like him, for us to be shaped by him so that all our living grows (because we are developing into Christ-likeness) in being an expression of the gospel of God’s reign being lived out in the ordinary daily routines of our lives.

To live our lives with “gospel filters” means that we need to immerse ourselves in the Gospels, in God’s Story so that our minds and lives are transformed by the Spirit – so that we grow in seeing all of life through the Gospel – and more, living our lives through the Gospel.

May we encourage each other to live our lives through “Gospel filters.”

Vol 2:23 Being in Mission: Living Centered in Jesus Christ

This past week I was up in Canada officiating my nephew’s wedding to his lovely bride. As we were making last minute preparations for the wedding, a primary focus was centering all that we were planning to do in the person of Jesus Christ. My nephew and his bride were choosing to exchange their vows in a context of worship and chose to make their vows in the presence of Jesus Christ. In fact, the text for the basis of the wedding meditation was Luke 9: 23-26 which focuses upon denying self, taking up the cross daily and following after Jesus – in giving themselves 100% one to the other, they realize that they must give themselves completely to Christ.

This was a good reminder for me about what being in mission entails – it means being centered in Jesus Christ in all that we are and do. Jesus cannot be an afterthought or a side thought if we seek to be missional, rather Jesus is at the center of who we are and what we do as we seek to participate with God in God’s redemptive mission of making humanity and all creation new.

Over the next few weeks I want to explore further how we live missionally by being centered in Jesus. I cannot help but think that the command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27) speaks to how we are to be missional centered in Jesus Christ.

To be missional is to have Christ Jesus as the center of our purpose, focus, and direction (heart), to have Jesus as the center for our spirituality and meaning making in our lives (soul), to have Jesus as the center for all our living and in all what we do (strength), and to have Jesus as the center for our thinking and speaking (mind).

I end this week by praying the prayer of St. Patrick, in which he shares this centeredness in Jesus Christ. St. Patrick’s Prayer begins with:

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.

By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;

His baptism in the Jordan river;

His death on Cross for my salvation;

His bursting from the spicèd tomb;

His riding up the heavenly way;

His coming at the day of judgment;

I bind unto myself today.

And then the last two stanzas of the prayer express a deep centeredness in Jesus Christ:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity;

By invocation of the same.

The Three in One, and One in Three,

Of Whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:

Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

May we be continually reminded that in Jesus Christ alone can we participate with God in God’s mission.

Vol 1:20 Being a Missional People: Living as "Living Stones"

Being connected to Jesus Christ as his disciples, as ones who worship him, we are in danger of others identifying us with their images of him. Many of go about trying to change the image of Christ in the world so that we in the wake of such renewed imagining of Jesus, we may become more accepted as well.

Yet, too many do not know who Jesus is. That is not a new problem – Jesus has always been misunderstood – even by us. Too many have an emaciated view of Christ – Jesus was merely a religious teacher, having religious things to say, trying to bring spirituality into the real world. But such an emaciated image of Jesus would have little impact upon society – and perhaps some indeed do believe he was unable to pass muster in the “real world.”

Peter in his first epistle writes: “As you come to him, the living stone – rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2: 2-3).

How does this define us as missional people? How are we to be in a world that misunderstands Jesus?

Jesus is the stone the builders rejected. When Jesus was asked to explain the parable of the tenants in Luke 20 – the parable in which those who were minding the vineyard thought they could inherit the vineyard by killing the owner’s son – he asked them the meaning of Psalm 118:22 “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

Jesus who is rejected by all – because Jesus does not fit preconceived categories of who Jesus ought to be, is the one through whom God builds a whole new kind of building in the world – not made with stones and mortar, but with Jesus as the cornerstone and recreated human beings as living stones who identify with Christ Jesus – signified by the act of baptism. In identifying with the Rejected One, we too are rejected ones – but it is in this particularity that we are the missional people of God in the world, whom God uses as building blocks to create a whole new world (cf. Paul Stookey’s song Building Block.)

God engages, not those who are the greatest or most gifted, nor the most politically astute, nor the most powerfully situated to bring about God’s redemptive mission of creating a whole new world. God seeks out those who are marginalized, those who are rejected, to identify with the Son of God who has been rejected – for through him – the cornerstone, God connects living stones in order to build a new spiritual building, a whole new community of people, a living community of people who through their lives and their living bring about God’s will on earth, just as it is in heaven.

As we read through the rest of Peter’s epistle, we discover that living missionally, doing good, involves suffering, suffering that comes through identifying with Jesus Christ. In Christ, we are a people born into a living hope (1 Peter 1:3) and are called to live as foreigners, as aliens (1 Peter 1:17), and are the ones through whom God is building a new community, a community of living stones who are filled with a living hope in order to be a sign, foretaste, and instrument of God always breaking in reign in order to make the world new.

Whether we see ourselves as rejected or accepted all depends upon whom we focus our attention – if we try to follow after Jesus Christ but our attention is on the world – we will be ever battling being rejected, but if we live focused on God who has chosen and called us to be “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9), then no matter how rejected we are as the missional people of God, we know we are accepted to participate with God in being a new community in an unfolding whole new world.

Vol 2:13 Mundane Mission: Living Missionally from Day to Day

The idea of missional has been around for a number of years, long enough for people to “cookie-cutter” their own ideas into what missional means. A whole group of people who are getting what it means to be missional also express that it is best expressed in edgy environments. It seems to me that being engaged in missional ministry has also taken on an aura of “coolness” – but what about those who are not “cool,” is there any hope for them being missional? Is there room for the mundane in being missional?

Years ago Lewis Smedes wrote a book entitled Mere Morality: What God Expects from Ordinary People. In it he expressed that it is about morality for the ordinary person – “life on the plains” (viii). Is there such a thing as being missional for the ordinary person? I think there is.

Now this does not mean that God’s mission is mundane – God’s mission is about making all creation new; it is about reconciling humanity to God and to one another; it is about removing the injustices of racism, oppression, poverty; it is about healing and setting free those who are ill, alienated, imprisoned – whether physically, emotionally, mentally, economically, and spiritually. There is nothing mundane about what God is doing redemptively in the world to make all things new.

But what is mundane about God’s mission is that it happens in the ordinariness of the everyday. The place where the Spirit of God is active in enacting God’s mission, of inviting God’s people into partnership with God in God’s mission are places like grocery stores, at gas stations, in our homes, at our places of work – wherever we find ourselves living out our lives. Often we think we are in mission when we are doing something special for God – like serving homeless persons at a soup kitchen, or stocking shelves at a food pantry, or hanging out with people different from us in a bar or café. Such ministries are indeed missional, if we are engaged in them because this is where we see God sending us. But these missional endeavors happen only on Wednesday nights at 7 pm or Friday nights from midnight to the early hours of Saturday, they are not the stuff of our daily living in which we are raising our kids, driving them wherever, loving and being loved by our spouses, working hard to make ends meet.

So what do we do with the rest of our time? Is not being missional a 24/7 calling? Indeed, it is! It’s in our comings and goings of our daily lives that we discover the myriad ways God is active in the world. As we ask God to help us notice what God is noticing, as we ask the Spirit to make us sensitive to the people around us, as we ask to live out the compassion of Jesus in the midst of daily living, we begin to see that God is active all around us. It is in the ordinariness of life that we have the opportunity to be less than ordinary in bringing the presence of Christ, in being sign, foretaste and instrument of God’s present and coming reign.

I believe being missional in the ordinariness of life – being missionally mundane, if you will, begins with a seeking to be aware of God’s presence and God’s activity in the minutiae of our days – maybe we will discover in having eyes to see what God sees that no day can ever be ordinary again.

Vol 2:9 Re-Storying the World: Living Missionally - Living the Word of God in the World

Eugene Peterson in his introduction to Micah in The Message expresses:

“Prophets use words to remake the world. The world – heaven and earth, men and women, animals and birds – was made in the first place by God’s Word. Prophets arriving on the scene and finding that world in ruins, finding a world of moral rubble and spiritual disorder, take up the work of words again to rebuild what human disobedience and mistrust demolished. The prophets learn their speech from God. Their words are God-grounded, God-energized, God-passionate. As their words enter the language of our communities, men and women find themselves in the presence of God, who enters the mess of human sin to rebuke and renew” (Peterson, Introduction – Micah, The Message).

This is an apt description of our participating with God in God’s redemptive mission – we are about remaking the world because God is about remaking the world. But it has more do to than just using the right words. Indeed we are shaped by the words we use, but more importantly we are shaped by the Story in which these within the Word of God are expressed – this is what Peterson alludes to as prophets learning “their speech from God.”

As a people who are called to live in mission with God we are a people who are also called to live out the Word of God, or God’s Story and Vision, in the world. The Story we live reveals a different rhythm, a different cadence of how we are human in the world. The Story we live, rather than contributing to the disordering or destroying of the world, instead remakes the world in light of God’s vision of shalom. In a sense, we live in a world that has been de-storyed (a play on the word destroyed). What we are about as we participate with God in God’s mission, is re-storying the world in light of God’s Story and Vision – remaking and restoring the world in light of God’s present and coming reign, seeing the breaking in of God’s will being done here on earth just as it is in the realm in which God rules.

And so as a people being about re-storying the world, we are called to be a people who are immersed in Scripture – because we recognize that we are not complete has human beings unless we are formed and transformed by the Story that is rooted in God, centered in Jesus Christ, and continues being expressed in us and through us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Immersing ourselves in Scripture gives us a vocabulary, a phraseology, a narrative, a Story that shapes the way we live, speak, and act as a new creation. We cannot be God’s missional people without the Story and Vision of God being part of our DNA. Reading Scripture, reflecting upon Scripture, dialoguing on Scripture – particularly as a community, are the practices which open us to be permeated by God’s Story in our lives.

In this way we discover that the Word of God is as necessary for our being the people of God as the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat are necessary for our being human.

Let’s be about remaking, restorying the world as a people living lives immersed in the living Word of God.