There are reasons why Jonah avoided Nineveh. We can see those same reasons within ourselves if we look close enough. Acceptance is key. True ministry happens when we recognize and accept the Ninevehs in our own lives.
The significance of Jonah's prayer is not that he prayed, but what he prayed. Find a deeper language as you build a Rule of Life for seminary.
Ministry is not about selecting a community, it is about accepting a community. It is not about emotional entanglement, but geographic and circumstantial entanglement. It accepts whoever is on the premises.
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HUMAN LOVE:
“human love continues to desire even when it seems to be serving” (34)
“The basis of all human love is the dark, turbid urges and desires of the human mind… it is the deep night that hovers over the sources of all human action, even over all noble and devout impulses” (31)
“Human love is by its very nature desire… So long as it can satisfy this desire in some way, it will not give it up, even for the sake of truth, even for the sake of genuine love… Human love cannot tolerate the dissolution of a fellowship that has become false… Where Christ bids me to maintain fellowship for the sake of love, I will maintain it. Where his truth enjoins me to dissolve a fellowship for love's sake, there I will dissolve it, despite all the protests of my human love.” (34-35)
“Thus there is such a thing as human absorption” (33)
“The human soul seeks a complete fusion of I and Thou” (33)
“Human love loves others not as a free person but as one whom it binds to itself” (34)
How do we recognize if we’ve undertaken a ministry out of human love? Ask:
What are my true motives in being part of this community?
What are my needs that I am trying to have met by this community?
How much of my involvement in this community is driven by self-interest?
How did I enter into this system?
SPIRITUAL LOVE:
Mark 10:45 “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
“where human love can no longer expect its desire to be fulfilled, there it stops… in the face of an enemy” (34)
“human love becomes personal hatred” (35)
“The existence of any Christian life together depends on whether it succeeds at the right time in bringing out… spiritual community. The life or death of a Christian community is determined by whether it achieves sober wisdom on this point as soon as possible.” (37)
“spiritual love must release the other person from… all too personal, direct influence, impure interference… every attempt of mine to regulate, coerce, and dominate… The other person needs to retain his independence of me… I must leave him his freedom to be Christ’s… it respects the line that has been drawn between him and me… spiritual love creates freedom” (36-37)
“The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God himself accordingly… So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.” (27-28)
How can I move away from human love towards spiritual love?
Detach my ego from the success or the failure of this church / ministry.
Release them from soft shaming, guilt feelings, and silent expectations.
Be gentle on myself (and thus others).
Decouple from them and break enmeshment & codependency.
Liberate them (from me) to be free.
Music credits: Aleksey Chistilin
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See:
Five Steps which are the sine qua non of Lectio Divina
Begin with a reliable text
Sit still
Observe grammatical phenomenon
Suspend interpretation
Adopt this posture in all of life
My agenda is to make us self-aware of our bent towards power - that every. single. one of us. are seducible, and that overcoming it is not always through a singular, defining act of downward mobility, but rather through small everyday deeds of kenosis.
A disclaimer: some serious allegations have been raised about L' Arche, where Nouwen was shaped profoundly as he wrote his book "In the Name of Jesus." The issues he raises still speak proleptically about the circumstances surrounding the scandal to come, and our own ongoing need to be both WHOLE and HOLY.
Our primary calling is to be the beloved and to follow Christ. That is all, and we shall remain here for as long as he calls us to this first-love identity. That said, if he bids us beyond, into more specific secondary callings, we do well to take heed and obey, for denial of such can be dangerous to our souls.
Seminary can easily be a place where you are living in your head all day long, and scholasticism can be a pathway away from God just as much as it can be a pathway to God; You will need something more than academic and intellectual formation – you will need a vital spiritual encounter with Christ.
Build an ark.
The Daily Deluge.
Here’s to Noah!
I took the cup.
I took the cup.
We are not forgiving, as much as we are enabled to forgive.
Is there a Joseph?
Sin is crouching at the door; and you must master it.
Earth angel... earth angel...
Die before you die. There is no chance after.
Afunctioning is dysfunction.