The goodness, truth, and love of the Christian life. Part 3

The goodness, truth, and love of the Christian life

Part 3

However, the desire for righteousness remains a true aim, but we rely on grace to attain it. Counter-intuitively, by not focussing on being righteous, but instead trusting in the grace of God shown to us in Jesus, the quality of relationship with God that that enables breaks down the barriers between ourselves and God and so releases his own love into our lives. In living out this love, we are able to be channels of God’s own goodness, truth and love. This liberating and supremely fulfilling quality of life becomes ours – ours to enjoy and ours to share. Are we now perfect? Of course, we are not, but we have learnt to wear perfection like an overcoat, and it is starting to fit. Perhaps this is what it means to “put on Christ”. The frailty of our humanity is overlaid by his goodness. Not in a way that obscures our personhood, but we and Christ are corporately joined into one, so that Christ’s perfect love is seen in us even while it is expressed through our individual personality. The grace of Christ seeps into our souls, or, to shift imagery, it bubbles up from within us. Whichever the direction is, the result is a kind of hybrid, for we want to remain truly ourselves (I see no point in faith obliterating God’s creativity in making us who we are), while also entering into a new kind of life that expresses the fullness of God’s grace that has been shown to us in Christ. We are copying him, while simultaneously being ourselves.

To play my part

All my life is an act,

No wonder I’m so good at it.

But I found a friend who taught me about roles,

And he helped me to see that my life is not a charade, but a magnificent performance.

Through the discipline of fulfilling my roles – and there are so many of them, and many are so difficult, and sometimes they come at me thick and fast, and others thrust them on me before I’ve even has a chance to say, “Yes”, and some of them, some of them, I’ve been playing all my life – and, where was I? Through the discipline of fulfilling my roles, I have become myself; I have acquired channels to pour out my creativity into the world; I have achieved far more than I would ever have imagined.

This friend, he has taught me so much.

In the world, so many strive for autonomy, but he speaks about surrendering yourself.

People demand, “I must be free to be myself”, but he says, “Come and serve me”.

With clenched fists they shout, “Me, me me”, but he taught me to whisper, “Not me, but me in him”.

Only in this release did I find freedom.

And so, I stride the stage with a confidence I do not have,

I stoop to bind up the wounded – though I don’t really care that much,

I leap with joy, though I am far too shy to do that.

Remember, it is all an act really,

And I’m getting pretty good at it,

So much so, that every now and then people say,

“You know, you’re really getting to be like your friend”.

And the best thing about this?

I don’t feel small to be compared to him;

I feel deep-down glad.

The goodness, truth, and love of the Christian life. Part 2

The goodness, truth, and love of the Christian life

Part 2

We see this conflict in the early centuries of the Christian Church: is Christianity a faith for the perfect (or those close to it) or is it a way of life open to all who will put their trust in Christ? We see the appeal of the perfectionists, for faith does bring perfection so close – in fact, it makes it real, but not permanent. Thank God that Christianity opted for a faith based on grace rather than righteousness. However, we see the appeal of the righteousness approach – one that is repeatedly acted out in human society – and worthy of great praise it is. For people of great faith, commitment and strength of character commit themselves to a life which is understood to be righteous through keeping a certain code comprising noble actions. Compared to those who lazily rely on grace, they deserve our admiration. When faithfulness is so difficult, when so many have given up the struggle against temptation saying, “God will forgive me”, those who strive for righteousness grit their teeth and hang on to the way of life that they believe their faith requires.

The fatal flaw in the way of righteousness is that its attainment can become perceived as no longer God’s gift, but something you have earned. Therefore, the joyful leaning on God, grateful for his grace, becomes a standing on our own two feet and falsely claiming that what really comes from God is rightfully ours. And this is if our own righteousness was possible. Experience shows us that it is not, and so presumed righteousness becomes a self-deceiving self-righteousness, and ultimately an arrogant usurpation of what is owed to God. As Paul discovered, righteousness simply cannot be earned.

It’s because I care

I want to be right!

No, you are not listening; I need to scream this in your face: I want to be in the right!

I am in the right.

I hate making mistakes.

No, you’re still not listening I must scream at you again: I hate making mistakes!

I have worked, and striven and strained, and persevered, and cried out for help

But it was still all on me, and I have tried so hard.

Others – they don’t even care!

It has really never even entered their tiny minds to even attempt to do the right thing.

All they care about is themselves, and if they knew about me they would just mock me:

What a fool for even trying!

Yet this is important to me Lord.

I see that you are in the right

And I love you for it.

And you have inspired me to emulate you.

But it is so difficult.

It is beyond me.

I pretend of course.

And if you don’t know me too well, then I can carry it off – from a distance.

But I know me only too well.

It is the gap that hurts so much.

The gap between what I want and what I manage.

Between what I love and what I do.

And that is why, in my hurt, I am screaming,

At the mirror.

The goodness, truth and love of the Christian life. Part 1

The goodness, truth, and love of the Christian life

Part 1

(An article in 4 parts this week exploring the Christian life. Alongside each part is a poem reflecting on some key aspects)

Christian faith draws a life of goodness, truth and love within our reach. A life containing nothing tawdry, selfish, substandard or unworthy. As God himself is perfect, faith in him makes his own quality of life available to those who love him. And the greatest aspect of this grace is that ordinary people believe such a life is possible; they recognise that it is open to them; and they enter into it.

Imagine a life with no shame, no regrets, no failures, only living in harmony with, in communion with, the God of love, where all our actions reflect his love. When we are in tune with God, aware of his presence, such a life becomes, not simply gloriously possible, but almost easy – for it is God’s gift, and those in love with God simply gladly accept the gifts of his love.

The challenge for the Christian is to continue in this life in those moments when we are not spiritually uplifted to be aware of God’s presence. The Christian is given a taste of perfection – but he is far from perfect, and the perfection he enjoyed was a gift, not earned. He recognises that he has no strength in himself sufficient to withstand the temptations that will come to him. He knows that God can continually give him the strength to stay in communion with him, but the human will falters at the effort of such perseverance as is needed to continually say, “Yes Lord; give me more”.

Thus, the Christian wants to be perfect; he knows that perfection is possible – through God’s inexhaustible gifts of grace, but he is not perfect in himself and does not achieve perfection because of his inherent weaknesses, summed up in his turning away from God. He thereby becomes susceptible to the attractions of those things that appear good, true and lovely, but which are less than the complete goodness, truth and love found in God. Or he simply falls into the temptations of selfishness.

Searching till found

If I could just stretch a little further.

My fingertips stroke the prize, but cannot grasp it.

Yet it fills my gaze – and fills my heart with delight.

But the delight is not fulfilled and so turns to pain:

So close and yet so far.

Though my heart is still full – if no longer with delight, yet still with longing.

Yet you, who can stretch out your arms further than me,

You, whose grasp is always secure, so that nothing ever slips from your fingers,

You slip your hand into mine

And usher me on to the podium to receive the prize.

As though I was the winner.

But the prize is yours.

I do not understand.

Till I realise that I am the prize

And so, I am yours.

Sin and freedom. Part 2

Sin and freedom

Part 2

If you don’t like the word “obey” then I agree with you; I don’t like it either, but after many years of trying to avoid this conclusion, I think obedience has to be accepted. The idea of “following” God, or “living in tune with him” seems entirely positive to me, and in practice following God and obeying God amount to the same thing. However, I didn’t want to hide from the word “obey”, so we need to recognise that this is what we’re doing. We can feel those secular hackles rising: “How dare you suggest that I should obey anyone – even God; I demand complete autonomous freedom”. Well, OK, you’re free to do that if you want, but I think you will find that your “complete autonomous freedom” comes with hidden strings attached – the weakness of the will that makes it prey to seizing advantage for itself at no matter what cost to others, the tendency to justify self-interest as though it was righteousness, the following of fashionable ideologies as though they were true. Christians claim that it is only in the light of God’s goodness, truth and love that we are enabled to choose what is pure and good and lovely. It is in committing to living in tune with him that we receive the strength and guidance that allows us to live in true freedom. On our own, we are often powerless to be the person that we really want to be, but with God, that way of living becomes possible. By ourselves, we fail to live up to our ideals, but giving ourselves into his hands, thinking we were surrendering to his will – as indeed we are – we discover that our own will now has a clarity and depth that it never had before. Enfolded in his love, we discover that following his way becomes truly freedom to live life fully, for we have come to love as he loves, so that “following him” has become the same as fulfilling our own deepest desires.

Sin and freedom. Part 1

Sin and freedom

Part 1

Sin is inescapably tied up with freedom, for until we find a way to deal with sin we are not free, but if we can, then we will be truly free. Modern society exalts freedom as perhaps its highest aim, yet I don’t think it truly understands how freedom works, and this is because it has an inadequate understanding of human nature. Many years ago, when I was still a teenager, the Prime Minister James Callaghan gave a speech on education policy. He said that children are like flowers, all that is needed is to give them freedom and they will blossom. It’s a lovely thought – inspiring – the sort of thing we should get printed on a tee-shirt. Unfortunately, it’s not true. If we want to stick with an analogy from nature, it would be more accurate to say that children are like gardens: unless they’re carefully cultivated, it’s always the weeds that grow first. “Aargh, that’s so negative! Why do you have to spoil my tee-shirt!?”. And I agree – this is not nearly so uplifting or positive, but I don’t think it’s pessimistic, it’s realistic.

The only freedom we really have is the freedom to choose who to follow. If we say, “No, I will be myself! I don’t follow anyone!”, we will simply find that we are enslaved by our own weaknesses. And that’s if we can escape succumbing to the pressures of society! What faith gives you is a commitment to follow God, who then gives the possibility of overcoming this immensely powerful opponent, which we have identified as sin. With faith, it becomes a possibility, because God is the only one with the power to counter sin. As so often in the life of faith, the truth is counter-intuitive, and it is in the surrender to obey God, that we discover the freedom to truly be ourselves – if we understand “ourselves” to mean that true or best self – the person that we are when we are not blighted by our own weaknesses, and when we receive the resources to respond positively to the challenges dumped on us through the weaknesses of others.

Forgiveness through Christ’s self-giving

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God,

You take away the sin of the world: have mercy upon us.

We strive and strain, and sin.

With supreme effort we repent.

Inspired, we promise.

All in vain.

Distressed, we feel guilt and despair.

All in vain.

Hold us still Lord, resigned to receive your calm judgement of forgiveness, the quiet assurance of the Father’s love.

Love that, while we have struggled to do justice to the depth of our re-commitment,

Has comprehended the sources and consequences of our failings,

Has undergone the passion required for true repentance,

Has cleansed, purified and made whole.

Be still, behold the Lamb of God, and take his gift.

It’s time to talk about sin. Part 2

It’s time to talk about sin

Part 2

“Sin” has a root meaning of “falling short” or “missing the target” as when an arrow misses the bullseye. So, a focus on sin also means that we have a goal of achieving a life that is true to our principles, and it’s these goals that are our true focus. I believe that this strikes a deep chord in people. We want to be people of integrity. However, we discover in ourselves an inner battle whereby, especially in times of stress and pressure, we let ourselves down. This is a straightforward understanding of sin: we don’t want to let ourselves down – or those who depend on us, and so it is right and proper to consciously set ourselves against this force of sin and in favour of all those things that are good and pure and lovely. Christians sum all this up in the calling to love God as he loves us.

This inner battle can be understood as the conflict between our evolved “reptilian” brain, which is intent only on our own needs, and our consciously adopted altruistic principles that our more highly developed brain is capable of. (See Karen Armstrong, one of the best modern writers on the nature of religion, in her book, “Twelve steps to a compassionate life”). Or we might like to see it in terms of Freud’s battle between the id, the ego and the super-ego. Or perhaps in Augustine’s terms of the divided will battling between what you truly approve of and the appeal of illusory temptations to gratify yourself. However you see it, it is a reality of the human condition. Somehow, we have to come to terms with sin: that tendency to take short-term, selfish gains rather than long-term substantial progress in well-being for all of us.