Richness in Short Bursts

Spirituality Column #139
July 7, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Richness in Short Bursts
By Bob Walters

We worry when we don’t pray enough.

My pastor friend Dave told me of a life-long, vigorous churchgoer – steeped in his Christian walk – who came to him in a panic because he, the churchgoer, didn’t think he was praying enough.

Knowing the man’s deep and active faith, Dave advised him to write down – with the time – every thought he had about God. Dave got a call the next day. The man’s panic had been allayed within hours when he realized he was thinking about and talking with God all the time.

When we are serious about our faith, we discover God is rarely far from our thoughts, even if we aren’t on our knees.

There is no substitute, of course, for a block of uninterrupted quiet time in prayer, meditation, Scripture study or contemplation. Contemplation is the deep “prayer without words” where we focus on the glory of God, the sacrifice of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is when it is easiest for us to hear the Creator God – the Holy Trinity – talking to us.

My scholar friend George was mentored by a monk named Philemon at a monastery in the Egyptian desert. Philemon would sit in his cell for days or weeks in isolation, listening for his Lord’s voice to bring light to the most deep, difficult or confusing elements of Scripture, the Cosmos, human life, relationships, even God’s Existence and Being.

George’s faith and teaching are unusually rich in the fruits of his encounters with Philemon’s dedication to and depth of prayer life.

It’s important – critically important – to note that Christian prayer is directed outwardly, to the Creator of the Universe, to the Godhead. That’s the source and place of the Trinity in the Christian faith. Even as the Holy Spirit dwells within us, Christian prayer reaches out to the community of the Holy Trinity.

Be aware that a “Mantra,” popular in some faith systems, is not an outward, God-directed prayer; it points inward, only to our consciousness.

And don’t just talk endlessly … Matthew 6:7 makes that very clear.

It is the relationship each of us has with God the Father through Christ the Son in the Holy Spirit – and the relationship that exists within the Trinity – that is unique to the Christian faith.

Only our prayer life – even in short bursts – can capture the richness, peace and joy of that relationship.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) was reminded that Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (ACTS) is a terrific prayer mnemonic.

Season of the Holy Spirit

Spirituality Column #127
April 14, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Season of the Holy Spirit
By Bob Walters
Author of the book: Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Easter was a couple of days ago; the Lord is Risen indeed.

So what happens now? The Holy Spirit happens.

It is the Holy Spirit that quickens our living, breathing souls with our belief in God and our faith in the eternal salvation promised by Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity – fully God – and provides us with the emotional and intellectual ability to understand the Word of God: Christ’s truth in our hearts.

On the day Christ rose from the dead, Jesus began to breathe the Holy Spirit into the lives of His disciples so their eyes and hearts would finally be opened to the enormous truth of salvation, and the infinite glory of God.

Let’s review that first Easter Sunday. Resurrected from the dead, Jesus Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb (John 20:14) on the morning of “the first day of the week” (Sunday), appeared to disciples Cleopas and Luke on the road to Emmaus that afternoon (Luke 24:13:32), and appeared to a gathering of disciples in a locked room that evening (John 20:19), eating with them (Luke 24:43).

At the tomb, on the road, and in the locked room, Jesus was not immediately recognized; not even by disciples He had told in multiple ways that He would die and come back to life to assure their own Heavenly eternal life in the presence of God.

These were pretty big stakes; pretty plainly explained.

And the disciples missed it.

Teachable moment: Jesus specifically and of His own will came to the disciples on the very day of His resurrection and they, at first, missed the fact it was Jesus. Let’s try not to miss Jesus when He shows up in our lives … and He does, you know.

In that locked room Jesus gave the disciples the divine gift that keeps on giving; that animates Christian beliefs and has changed the course of human history – He breathed the Holy Spirit into them (John 20-22).

Forty days later was Christ’s Ascension to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 1). At 50 days – the Pentecost – God sent the gift of the Holy Spirit to all, so that all might believe (Acts 2).

Want to hear from the Holy Spirit? Confess faith in Christ, pray … and listen.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) wonders if the Holy Spirit minds that we don’t make a big deal out of Pentecost, when Jesus gets Christmas and Easter.

The Shack: Don’t Read It Alone

Spirituality Column #90
July 29, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current! In Westfield (IN) newspaper

The Shack: Don’t Read It Alone
By Bob Walters

Everybody is talking about The Shack, the terrific 240-page paperback by novice writer William P. Young.

The Shack is a novel, not a Christian tract or self-help book. It’s not scripture or a new book of the Bible. I say that because Christians sometimes get carried away with how they misidentify especially helpful literature, sermons and preachers.

So let’s not worship this book … but by all means, read it. And if you can, read it with someone else. This is a book you will want to discuss.

The Shack reveals plain yet potentially startling Biblical perspectives – I’m inclined to call them truths – about the nature of God, the Trinity, humanity, religion, creation, good, evil, grace, forgiveness … and a whole lot of other stuff.

Like any good novel the basic story is captivating. Surprises abound. Curiosity is whetted. Emotions are intensely experienced. The writing is first rate. The factual and scriptural basis of the story – like one of Jesus’ parables or even a great sermon – allows for deeper understanding of our faith – and doubts – amid God’s enormous mystery.

Without giving away the story, something really evil involving great personal loss happens. Redemption ensues. And while some Christians’ favorite subjects are guilt and hell, Young avoids the traps of focusing on these defeating concepts. I say “defeating” because in my experience when guilt and hell comprise our inwardly-directed spiritual focus, we are a mess of inab ility to know God’s love; and when they are outwardly directed, we are unable to share God’s love.

Young’s focus is love and relationship, and his palette is truth and humanity. Christ imagery is a common literary device, but the image Young paints of Christ is fresh, surprising … and straight out of the Bible.

If there is a limitation on the broadness of the book’s potential popularity, it might be that it describes with absolute confidence – and stunning realism – the truth of the Trinity. It also blows apart many common mistakes made by Bible literalists, revisionists, and systematic theologies.

What the book describes is a God without limitations who craves a personal relationship with every person on this planet. It’s a God I want to love.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has intentionally said almost nothing about the story content and theological muscle of The Shack. It’s too good to ruin.

The Cross Was an Inside Job

Spirituality Column #89
July 22, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

The Cross Was an Inside Job
By Bob Walters

Here is a picture of Christ Jesus and Christian doctrine that I’ve often heard explaining the crucifixion:

God punished Jesus instead of us. Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. Our sin debt was paid to God. Because of our guilt, we should have been punished – and probably ought to be punished – but Christ took the nails for us.

Y’know … it’s not in the Bible that way.

It makes for a very human story. We understand punishment and death and sin and even sacrifice; they are all very human things. They are among the awful ways we order our incredibly imperfect social hierarchy.

We humans have a power-motivated “do this or else” aesthetic that God can’t possibly share if He is a God of love and if God is truly represented by the Father-Son-Spirit Trinity, which I believe He is.

Why? The Trinity is not interdependent within itself for punishment and death and sin. God has no need for any of these. Yes, Christ sacrificed himself as a human to defeat human death. But how (and why) would Christ – and remember He is co-equal in the Trinity – sacrifice Himself to repay Himself as God?

Jesus died on the Cross to defeat death which was created by God in response to our sins (read Genesis 3). And considering God already owns and shares everything, there is no way on earth to repay a debt to God. We don’t “borrow” things from God.

Within the Trinity there is not what philosophers would call an “other.” God is not “other” from Jesus, nor Jesus from the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is the ultimate, cosmic team effort; It is the relationship of the universe. Yes It is three distinct persons, but the Trinity is One; a wholly loving – and lovingly interdependent – relational community.

That was God’s original plan for all humanity, and remains His eternal purpose.

So the idea of God punishing Jesus, or of Jesus repaying God – an oft-told story – cannot be true; and it is not described in the Bible that way. The Bible says “ … [God] gave his son … that [we] shall not perish” (John 3:16).

The Cross was an inside job; God required the Cross to defeat death, God (Jesus) was on the Cross, and God (Spirit) provides us – if we want it – with our faith in the Cross.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that in the Greek manuscripts, the specific word “punish” does not appear in the New Testament. It has been added by translators.

Love and Wrath

Spirituality Column #64
January 29, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Love and Wrath
By Bob Walters

The wrath of God and the love of Jesus are a theological odd couple.

In the Father-Son-Holy Spirit Trinity, where the three persons of the one God meet as love and community, how can one be good, one be angry, and one – the Holy Spirit – be neutral?

Does that make sense?

The Trinity is our divine example of a perfect relationship, yet too often we tell our Christian story as a saga of punishment and payback rather than a celebration of trust and forgiveness.

If the Trinity is truly three persons of the one God, the Passion of Christ must also be the Passion of God and of the Holy Spirit.

My friend George Bebawi, the religious scholar (and Carmel resident) I often mention, made the excellent point in a recent lecture that he was “tired of meeting Christians who are afraid of meeting God.”

His point was that if you are afraid of God, you cannot mature as a Christian. Our Christian maturity is a function of our relationship with God. If our relationship with God is based on fear … it is the relationship of a slave, not of salvation; it cannot grow.

When we struggle as Christians to adequately explain or exemplify the love of God, it is too often easy and seemingly expedient (and human) to insert fear into the argument and say … “If you aren’t saved, God is going to get you. Look what God did to Christ, and He was innocent! What is God going to do to you?”

A crazy and unbiblical syllogism.

The Cross as an expression of God’s love is a difficult concept: it looks so much like a punishment. But in the New Testament the Cross is never described as either a function of God’s wrath or as punishment. It was how God reconciled our sin so His love for us could include our relationship with Him.

Is God’s wrath coming? I’m afraid so. All hell is literally going to cut loose on the last day, although I can’t imagine what that means or looks like.

The New Testament teaches that the love of the Cross – the love of the Trinity – can save us from that fear, and that fate.

Love God not to avoid punishment, but to build a relationship.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) should probably tell you more about Bebawi. Maybe next week.

Trinity - Mystery Math and the Holy Spirit

Current in Carmel - #12 - Trinity
Spirituality column / January 30, 2007

Mystery Math and the Holy Spirit
By Bob Walters

“Seven” may be the Bible’s perfect number and “Twelve” its perfect consensus, but “Three” creates the mystery of Communion.

The Holy Trinity – God the Father, Christ the Son, the Holy Ghost – is God in three persons, not three gods. One God, three manifestations … confounding mathematics.

Three divided by none is one.

Why three? Three is the smallest number for a community. The Trinity teaches the importance God places on community, and provides the key clue into our personal relationship with God.

Ever been to a church that serves communion – the Bread and the Cup? It’s not just a light mid-morning snack. Christ become human – His body and blood – is our physical and spiritual communion with God, through Christ Jesus who physically became us, in the Holy Spirit who reveals God to us.

The Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible, yet God, Christ and The Holy Spirit are clearly the key players of God’s New Covenant. Augustine, a north African universalist Christian in the fifth century, congealed the Biblical manifestations of God into what has been known ever since as the Trinity. Augustine unmistakably saw the Holy community of three as God’s call to our relationship with Him.

Three? One? “The Trinity Are?” “The Trinity Is?”

Fear not. Ever notice, while there is great order in nature, nature has no perfect geometric shapes? The earth is round but not a circle. A tree trunk is straight but not a line. A trillion hexagonal snowflakes fall and no two are alike. Squares and triangles are mathematical specifics, not God’s natural order.

Struggling with the math of the Trinity? Maybe God’s purpose wasn’t about specifics, but instead about relationships … like the one He wants to have with each of us, and the ones we’re supposed to have with each other.

Walters, a Carmel resident, can be reached at rlwcom@aol.com. He is relieved there is evidence God didn’t create math.

Hope or Hell in 2007? It's your future

Spirituality Column – #8 – January 2, 2007
Current! In Carmel newspaper

Hope or Hell in 2007? It’s your future
By Bob Walters

Hope, as we see the word in the Bible, is always about the future. Even when scripture refers to hope in the present or past, it is in one way or another talking about a future fulfilled, a desire denied, or an aspiration abandoned.

Tomorrow can be a rough ride.

With 2007 still stretching another 363 fresh tomorrows before us, for what do you hope in the New Year? What do you think you will find?

Here’s some good news. Satan isn’t there yet; he does not work in tomorrow. He works in our past and, when temptation triumphs, in our present.

How do I know Satan is in the past? Because our sin is in our past. We haven’t sinned in the future yet. That’s why Satan’s power resides in our past.

Hell is when you expect Satan, instead of Christ, to be in tomorrow.

Christ is our hope for the future because God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit – the Trinity – are eternal; They are already in tomorrow. Satan isn’t eternal, but he does have perfect knowledge of our past and, with temptation and guilt, uses our past as a constant weapon against us.

While Satan may well visit each of us each of these next 363 tomorrows of 2007 and beyond, we know that in the very end, our past goes away and Satan goes with it. Even in this life, when our past goes away, Satan’s grip slips. But Satan’s persistence is never far from us.
There is a wonderful, all-purpose prayer from the Orthodox church, called the Jesus Prayer, that I love to pray when Satan shows up:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

We may not be able to dispatch our fallen nature, but we can work to dispatch Satan by focusing on Christ. Satan will try to come back, but Satan can’t threaten us from the future. He knows our weaknesses from our past and tempts us today.

Tomorrow – our hope -- is up to us.

I think the purpose of our life on earth is no secret and pretty simple … love God, and love others. What makes everything so, um, interesting, is our sin.

The only way to prevent sin is to perfect our relationship with God. I think we all know that isn’t going to happen in this life, but we try. And we always have the hope of tomorrow, where God, Christ and the Holy Spirit already reside.

Satan will only get there because he rode along with us. Hope only makes sense when Christ, the promise of our future, is in the equation.

So here is a question for the New Year: are you going to ride with Christ, or is Satan going to ride with you?

Either way, you’d better buckle up.

Walters, a Carmel resident, hopes his airbag deploys. Contact him at rlwcom@aol.com.