talking with people of other faiths

I was recently asked to participate in a meeting where senior leaders of the various major faiths, along with a secular humanist, spoke about spirituality from their perspective.

The Mufti, Siraj Desai spoke about Muslim spirituality - the quest to reconstruct the link with God. He said that Islam is "not a religion, but a way of life."

Chuck Volpe spoke about the value of acknowledging human achievement throughout history. Although he claimed no faith, I thought he showed tremendous faith in the human potential, as well as a strong faith in the essential goodness of reason as a "tool" for humanity to use.

I then presented a short paper which I hoped would express the basics of christian spirituality, as well as some personal convictions, in a fresh and interesting way.

Read my presentation here: Christian Spirituality.doc
(go here for a pdf version)

Living with tension

A big part of the idealism that I have had to let go of has been the desire to eliminate tension. Idealism convinced me that life could be easy and trouble free if I just lived according to the “rules” – the right principles. When there was a problem – the thing introducing tension – it could be analysed, diagnosed and attended to… a little like the way a mechanic has a look at your car, works out why it won’t start, then gives you a quote to effect the repair.

Is life as simple as that?

My experience is that to be faith-ful means to live with tension. There may be things we can do to relieve tension – and I would totally support that kind of effort. Tension can get too much... for sure! But some things just can’t be resolved with one quick dose of Diagnose-and-Repair.

A present example: Having children produces huge tension in my life. I love Ruben. Check out his web-site here: rubenm.iscool.net He has recently turned 2 and I am proud of him. In fact, there are moments when I delight in him in a way that surprises me.

But he also is difficult. He is strong-willed, passionate, incorrigible, and a whole lot of other things that remind me of someone I know. He is able to produce emotions (like anger) in me in ways that scare me. I’m not blaming him for the anger – it obviously arises out of me – but he is certainly the catalyst. He also produces difficulty in my relationship with Elaine, the person I am married to. We love each other and respect each other in so many ways. But Ruben seems to expose all the tender points in our relationship, especially the things that we are not in agreement about. When it was just the two of us, we lived with a high level of tolerance of our different views. I thought we were mature and respectful. But Ruben seems to worm his way behind our respectful and tolerant façade, and gets us engaged with each other over various issues that we probably wouldn’t have brought up otherwise.

I love my child, but he’s a real challenge to my sense of self. In some ways he is a darling and in other ways a selfish little terror who wants nothing except his own way. I love him and I resent him, at the same time. Huge inner tension.

Somehow, I don’t sense the tension is going to suddenly be relieved. Of course, I’d welcome any helpful advice from people who share the struggle of child-rearing… (actually, I might get irritated by anyone offering advice, but try me anyway - I'm desperate) But even great advice is not going to relieve the tension immediately, and probably not even entirely.

Maturity, faith-fulness… these are qualities that for me are forged in the midst of the tension.

Beware!

mentioning the bulls meagre 1 point victory...

Live like there’s nothing to hide

Last week I preached from Revelation 21:10-14. This vision of Jerusalem coming out of heaven from God – heaven crashing into earth – is certainly challenging me to realise that the Kin’dom of Heaven is “now or never”! I have given too much energy to trying to squeeze people into heaven when they die. Far too little consideration has been given to living in the Kin’dom right now…

For instance, if all my secrets are going to be known in heaven (when I die) surely it’s Kin’dom living to begin to de-secret my life right now… in preparation for the grand unveiling. If there are people I really can’t stand – but God is going to welcome them to his Table – surely it’s Kin’dom living to start making peace and treating them with respect today.

I can’t be sure what life is going to be like after I die, but there are a few things that I am sure about… Life with God means:

• Worshipping like there’s no tomorrow
  (with passion and without fear or inhibition)
• Sharing with others like your life depends on it
  (because we begin to realise that our life does in fact depend on others)
• Living like there’s nothing to hide
  (no more blame and no more shame means no need for secrets!)

These statements describe how I imagine “eternity with God” to be like. But they are just as relevant (if not more important) to my life right now. It’s now or never.

As Richard Rohr always reminds me, “It’s heaven all the way to heaven… and it’s hell all the way to hell”!