Asides

follow me

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Matthew 4:18-20

I have been thinking about the “mission” of the people of God in a digital age. Since Covid-19 we have communicated in completely new ways. And there is no going back! We can no longer repeat the same methods that worked (or not) in the past. We cannot rely on people seeking out the church. Religion as a whole has lost most of the influence it had in the past. And all of that is actually good news!!

The task of each individual who has a relationship with Jesus is to “follow Him”. It is that simple! And part of that life is to be a “fisher of people”. But the simple fact that my relationship with Jesus is about “following Him” means I am called to reach out to people and proclaim the Kingdom of God, to proclaim the person of Jesus, to other people.

I want to write more about the theology of mission in a digital age. I think there is much to be written about but, more importantly, much to be done. And most of what is to be done is not artificial but the very centre of my relationship with Jesus.

I would be interested in people’s thoughts on mission, especially in what Jesus’ mission consists.

anonymous in Jesus?

[the individual] is incognito, but [their] incognito consists precisely in looking just like everyone else.

Kierkegaard: Concluding Unscientific Postscript (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy), 345.

Kierkegaard writes the above in his broader discussion of monasticism.

The individual does not stop being a human being, take off finitude’s motley in order to be dressed in the abstract garb of the monastery.

344

Kierkegaard’s gripe with monasticism is that monasticism is worldly defining itself by distinction in changing their dress (and name). The issue of dress is one of making oneself different from everyone else and that is the attitude of the world. Ok, the discussion is a little more involved!

So the quote about being incognito is not anti-monasticism but against the idea of being different in religious life. For me, it speaks of being “human” while being anonymous. To be anonymous in Jesus by looking just like everyone else! To fully live for Jesus while looking just like everyone else!

So the lesson for me? It is not about being outwardly different but about being inwardly attached to Jesus. It is about a relationship that is at the same time extremely private and life transforming.

love builds up

… Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

1 Corinthians 8:1b

The above was part of the reading from Evening Prayer tonight. I was so struck by it. I like Paul’s theme of “building up” and that, I think, should be the major image that the church uses for ministry and mission. My call in Jesus is always to “build up” – to call myself and others to transcendence. And that is what love does!! So what motivates me is love and what I do is build up.

holiness is Christ in me

I am looking forward to watching The Chosen as a church community. It will be good for us to get together and watch this incredible series.

I think one of the things modern Christians struggle with is that we have made sin an action so holiness has become an action also. We have wholeheartedly adopted a juridicial image of justification and elevated the “Jesus for me” to be the only image that we proclaim.

Therefore, sin is things I do wrong and holiness is things I do right. While I agree that faith needs to lead to a life of following Jesus, it is Jesus in me (the relationship and intimacy between Jesus and the individual) which brings holiness. Holiness is abiding in Jesus, remaining in His love, and the intimacy between Jesus and the Father. It is less about looking backwards (to what I have done wrong) to looking forwards (to Jesus as the final end of my life).

Jesus does not want perfection, He wants my heart!

Being a man?

I just wanted to share the above from Instagram. I really identify with it and I have struggled with being a male who feels things deeply and often, in last three months, has cried. In fact, I cannot recall a day when I have not cried in the last three months.

Now the real insight for me is that I can see the above as a negative. But it is only negative if I force myself into an image of maleness that is given to me by others. All of the above is a positive. Yes, I feel things deeply and I cry. That just makes me human. And some of the gifts that brings to others is a huge positive in my life and in other people’s lives.

I like the above quote because I have moved from seeing it all as a disease that needs to be removed to a gift that needs to be celebrated. Yes, I struggle and I am not like most males or people. But the gifts that being a sensitive male brings much outweighs the negatives and struggles.

I pray you have Jesus filled day!

my sin, Your love.

You didn’t want heaven without us
So Jesus, You brought heaven down
My sin was great, Your love was greater
What could separate us now?

Maybe this song has been overdone a little. But I was really struck tonight by the above words. Yes, Jesus did not want eternity without me and even if my sin is great, Jesus’ love is much bigger.

Thinking …

“The thoughts you think are not a waste of time”. I have often been struck by that line.

I live in my head and often feel life has passed me by. But my thinking has benefited me and others. I am constantly amazed that I make any sense at all because in my head is a crowd of voices arguing and yelling. And, maybe following on from the previous post, that is my vocation – to think with Jesus?! Or, as Paul says, I think “so that the church may be built up”.

I have had somewhat of a hard start to the day but it has improved. A very encouraging message from one of the clergy of the parish has helped. I should not be amazed but I am still struck by how Jesus speaks to me through people at the most appropriate time. And I am always struck by how Jesus moves people and how people who have nothing in common except Jesus gather and support each other. So I am extremely thankful for that today!

I will face tomorrow with Jesus. Every day is a gift, but like Tony Soprano says, “does it have to be a pair of socks?”. I will keep going, I will use my gifts for the “upbuilding of the people of God”, and I will be open to Jesus in whatever way He choses to use me.

hermit maybe?

I have a very stressful week ahead. A lot happening that I am not ready to face. I have had a headache for three days that I am sure is the stress related to the anxiety that I am feeling.

So my first reaction is to dream about being a hermit – to live alone somewhere without contact or interaction with other people. Recluse would be a better term – or a solitary. The other option is to enter some monastery somewhere and disappear. The problem is that I do not have a vocation to the religious life – either as an individual or within a community. To be honest, I am unsure if I have any vocation or calling. I have tried to wear various masks during my life – masks that often others gave me or that I thought others wanted me to wear. So I think this would just be another version of a mask that has been given to me by someone else.

I know for certain that it would just be a form of escapism. I like to run away from my problems rather than face them. I procrastinate because I cannot face the world. So I would be running from the world rather than to religious life.

I have learned over the last three months and I am extremely grateful for the people who have helped me. I also carry the pain of people who have decided that they cannot bare with me any longer. And that pain is so real at the moment that it colours everything in my life.

In the end I am alone before God. I have to act – no one else can act for me or on my behalf. I have to face my actions and the consequences. Hopefully I will be able to look back on this time and see it as a time of growth. But right now I am anxious and stressed.

So hermitage – yes or no?

Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul,
    and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
    my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The first psalm at Evening Prayer was Psalm 13. I thought I would share as it really spoke to me tonight. My life gives context to the words of the psalm. My disappointments and pains is what the psalm is all about – it speaks for me to God. And it speaks for God to me.