Tag Archives: Jesus

The Zen Master and the Christian

Posted on January 4, 2011 | 1 Comment

A Christian once visited a Zen master and said, “Allow me to read you some sentences from the Sermon on the Mount.”

“I shall listen to them with pleasure,” said the master.

The Christian read a few sentences and looked up. The master smiled and said, “Whoever said those words was truly enlightened.”

This pleased the Christian. He read on. The master interrupted and said, “Those words com from a savior of mankind.”

The Christian was thrilled. He continued to read to the end. The master then said, “That sermon was pronounced by someone who was radiant with divinity.”

The Christian’s joy knew no bounds. He left, determined to return and persuade the master to become a Christian.

On the way back home he found Jesus standing by the roadside. “Lord,” he said enthusiastically, “I got that man to confess that you are the divine!”

Jesus smiled and said, “And what good did it do you except to inflate your Christian ego?” – de Mello

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“Born again” is all messed up…

Posted on February 4, 2009 | 4 Comments

I never really have liked that language… and in fact you probably won’t ever hear me use it in conversation or speaking.
Here is from Richard Rohr (Adam’s Return)

It seems that most of humanity intuited the need for two births: the first a physical one, and the second a spiritual one, which was necessary to make sense of the first. The phrase “born again” now tends to mean “a Southern USA version of the Christian message,” or a person who has had a certain emotional experience. Someone who is born again usually has a moral and individualistic character, is tied to sets of words, and is extremely self-assured, often with a kind of warrior-for-God energy. Yet after the rebirth of authentic initiation, the effect tends to be much the opposite: ecstatic, communal, earthy, and humble – more the lover-and-wise-man energy.

Jesus term for such a big-picture thinking was the “Kingdom of God” or “Reign of God,” but we have altered it into “my” kingdom and my salvation experience. Being born again does not often feel like a rebirth but more like a continuation of the first biological and cultural birth, with some new buzz words added and some specific actions subtracted – drinking, cussing, gambling, homosexuality, abortion, and dancing being toward the top of the list, none of which Jesus talked about. Too often, there is little or no critique of one’s self, one’s own country, or the closed culture of the born agains. This culture is not prepared to preach the Gospel to all nations because it frankly never leaves home, and it tries to bring everybody back there.

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The death before the life

Posted on January 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the initiation processes within men and women and where.when we experience this… or how. It seems to me that the very deep.wise, the very spiritual men and women, whether they be Christian or not, have all gone through significant pain in their lives.

I think it used to be that this was something that the elders of the community gave to the men as a community experience… women, not as much as they have the very biological experiences that move them through these transitions. We are now, especially in America, a number of generations removed from this community initiation experience. Fathers and elders no longer know how to walk the young men through this death experience and so we spend our early years trying to shield and protect ourselves and those close to us from feeling any pain or insecurities.

But, as a friend said last night, we will be initiated. If not by our community, by life itself. Whether you call it midlife crisis or the second Saturn Return, we must face the death, rock bottom, or forever be floundering as we wonder why the hell we are here and what our life amounts to. Some men walk through the flames by their own choosing, some because of life itself. It seems though that to be able to go through this experience in our 20s, and to have the right support to process it, will benefit us immensely in our later years.

The truly rich spiritual path or a well balanced position of leadership involves significant time spent in the desert… feeling the pain… not having the answers… eating dirt. Jesus went through it before he dove into his cosmos changing ministry. And his 40 days in the desert was followed up, by what? A public affirmation of his place with God and society. Baptism and the voice of God saying, “this is my son… with whom I am well pleased.” How old was he? 30… It fits.

The question I am left asking myself is how we bring this back into a community experience? How do we actively begin to walk men through this dying and rebirth experience so that we can begin making a more significant impact in our communities now?

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Posted in Community, Men's issues

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Post elections conversations about the kingdom, Jesus, and politics

Posted on November 6, 2008 | 3 Comments

So now that things are settled, I hope that questions and conflict regarding my perspectives on Non-voting can be minimized to a more constructive conversation on how we view our relation with the national government (side note… great post by Mark Van Steenwyk on this issue here).

I’ve had so many conversations in the last few days, and I hope there are more. Below is a dialog that I have been having with some friends via email. It lays out a lot of my own thoughts on some of these issues.

you say something about taking a stand and letting true beliefs show through….I guess I see a paradigm difference between “taking a stand” and “everything’s all cool, everyone can be who they want to be.”

What I originally said was: “Our decisions to take a stand for what we believe, to live differently, to value life, should not be swayed or altered by some leader of the empire.” What I meant by this is that the world needs consistency of practice. The world will only be changed significantly by those who are living consistently the values of the kingdom of God… over and above all else. So if I value life, then I am going to promote life on all levels whether abortion is legal or not. If I value community and taking care of my neighbor, what happens economically, with taxes, or with gas prices will not change that. And presidents surely don’t change that. It changes how we live it, but not THAT we live it. This is what I prioritize.

What I adhere to is a movement towards a whole existence following of the way of Jesus. For me, I don’t care if someone thinks they have all the right “values,” “beliefs,” or “facts” figured out in their head. If they aren’t living it, they don’t have a lot to offer me. And if someone is actively pursuing a more unified and loving world… they are beginning to move in the way of Jesus. I am SO committed to this that I refuse to do something as compromising as choosing the lesser of two evils to run for a national office… especially when I see Jesus modeling a leadership of sacrifice not power assention. His way was subversive and humble.

What about absolutes?  Do you still exist anymore?  That’s a deep one to ponder!!   I’d actually be really curious to hear your thoughts on that one. )  What about moral absolutes?

I am not sure how to answer the question of whether I exist. I don’t think I really need to. Of course we do… but I don’t see how absolutes fit into whether we exist. I am thinking, however, that your question about absolutes has something to do with what someone said a while back about there being an increase in immorality in the next 4 years. By immorality, I assume we are talking homosexuality… anything else?

As I mentioned something about homosexuality in my last note… I will just say that I don’t have a definitive answer on whether homosexuality is right or wrong. Let’s say I stray towards thinking that it is not in line with God’s intended plan for humanity. As a follower of the Jesus way, though, I think it is more destructive for me to focus on the immorality and condemnation of that rather than build relationships with those who are gay and repent for the way the church has treated them. There are more important things to be concerned about.

From what I see from Jesus, homosexuality is a less immoral thing to be concerned about than things like loving your neighbor, not worrying, individualism, consumerism, pursuit of power, religiousity, pride, selfishness, doing good to your enemies, not killing, serving one master (something that distances me from being engaged in the national political process), etc. So to me these are just as immoral. And just as absolute. For me, absolute means no compromise… not even voting for someone who has less immoral stances than the other.

And then the idea of being too enmeshed in the system?  How can anyone claim to not be enmeshed in some type of system,

The only system that I want to be “enmeshed” in is the kingdom of God. Being enmeshed means that I compromise one for the other. i never want to compromise the kingdom of God for something else… especially something like the nation of America. We ask ourselves the questions of “how can I be a responsible CEO as a Christian? How can I go to war as a responsible Christian? How can I live with  incredible power as a Christian?” What we should be asking, in my opinion, is “How can I be true to Jesus in this messed up world? What must I do to actively take a stand as a set apart people?” This often means not participating in this world’s ways of taking a stand.

especially with our God given right to chose our leaders based upon character and whom we deem best to lead.  that is a privilege.  That is our right as Americans, as humans, as Christians.

I guess I see “right” as something that is inherent in our existence that we can claim. Especially when it comes to God. That is our right as Americans. If you can show me anywhere that says that God has given Americans a right that he hasn’t given others… I will be impressed. God-given rights are things that span across humanity. That voting is a God-given right or a right that we have as Christians is perhaps the most telling statement of the confusion that we have gotten ourselves into as Americans. Is going in with our military and killing innocent people also a right that we have? Is going out and spending all of our money on useless things a God-given right as well? Privileges are not rights. I think that it is almost a Jesus mandate that we give up our privileges for the sake of the other and the kingdom of God. Phillipians 3 talks about that.

There are many other in the world who would give anything to chose between two great candidates.  That is a good problem to have.

“Great” for America… but not great in the eyes of the kingdom. The Greatest will be the least of these. The children, the homeless, the depressed, the homosexuals, the imprisoned… those who think they have no place in the kingdom of God. It is those who are great in the eyes of Religion and this world who are lost… I’m sorry, but that is what Jesus said and lived.

it’s just the ideals of the party..

This was said in regards to being ok with Obama, but not with the democratic party. This is why I do not participate in party politics. This is why I did not vote for any individuals, only state and local policies. Party politics, left / right, conservative / liberal (I can’t believe how 4 years ago we were running around yelling “frickin libs!!”), democrat / repulican… all of these are some of the most divisive things within the existing and historical body of Christ. It is absolutely detrimental to the growth of the kingdom. To lump ourselves on either side means we are forced into being associated with things that are not Jesus. It is inevitable… the poles were created by values of this world’s systems.

So there you have it… my response. I tried not to lob too many bombs on you guys. This is just where I am… I am in the process of trying to line my life up with my convictions. This takes much longer than I could imagine.

Thanks for the dialog,
Nate

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It’s not that I want people to live in fear

Posted on September 29, 2008 | 2 Comments

… I just don’t see anything negating fear other than that which looks like the kingdom of God and the way of love. We read Hebrews 2 last night at our Sunday night gathering. The author writes that Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection came to

free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

John notes in his letter that

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how we have confidence when we are judged: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he loves us first.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians,

flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable… when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

So many things we put our hope in foster fear.
- Governments use fear all the time… and not just on a national scale, but on a global scale
- Our commercial, consumer economic system keeps us in fear
- Our need to stay young causes fear
- Our need for safety causes fear
- Isolation, individualism, depression, anger, retaliation… all results of this deep fear

We are a fearful people in a fearful country in a fearful world. We put our hope and spend so much time in this realm of the perishable. It is as though we have these deep needs and we try to fill them with things that will fade. What happens when the perishable fades? Its death. The reason why death hurts is because of sin… that seeking to fulfill our deepest needs with that which fades. We move beyond this fearful existence when we become those that look like Jesus. We “clothe” ourselves with his image.

This is more than an affirmation… I feel like it is more than an adherence to certain doctrines… maybe even more than what we traditionally consider “Christian.” It comes down to looking like Jesus in all areas of our living, loving, breathing, serving, and sacrificing. When our hope is here, we have no fear. No fear. This does not pass away like the shifting of governments, economics, disasters, relationships, and so much more. All these things will come and go like the tide… like the fog. People will always be divided over these things. The republicans will not be able to love the democrats, the socialists will not be able to love the commercialists, the rich will not be able to love the poor, and on and on. We will live in fear until we live the kingdom of God. Where there is fear there is not love.

And so, no, I don’t want people to be afraid. It hurts me so much to think of this world in its fear and desperation. We must… we MUST be a light in this dark place. Face to face, heart to heart, breath to breath, and stride by stride as we walk, live, and serve together in love.

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Posted in Community, politics, Scripture

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