|
Easter Season 2009
Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. While it focuses on Christian teaching, the writer hopes persons of other faiths find inspiration here. Indeed, "God" can be whatever image helps you trust in the Sacred, by whatever means Grace touches you. Please share this ministry with others, and I hope you return soon. There is a new offering daily.
Blessings,
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox
Ecumenical Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader,
Spiritual Counselor, Chaplain
LISTENING TO THE SCRIPTURES
"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything."
*Psalm 1.1 (Author's Translation)
RECEIVING SACRED TEACHING
A Puritan sits down to his meal of bread and water - all he could afford. He bows his head and prays, "All this and Jesus too?"
* * *
We live in a society of discontent. Let us not blame the media or advertisers. We have become a people intoxicated with faith in personal entitlement. This casts a spell over us, and this divides us within and without.
The Psalmist says, "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything." He does not pen, "I am entitled to be treated fairly by everyone." Or, "I am entitled to the dreams I have to be fulfilled." Or, "I am entitled to a sufficient salary - as I define it." Or, "I am entitled to be understood by others." Or, "I am entitled to have the love of my life." Or, "I am entitled to be free of emotional pain and distress." Or, "I am entitled to good physical health." Or, "I am entitled to keep my home and pay my mortgage." ... He pens none of these things, or the many things we tend to think and feel we are entitled to, things we think we must have to be content.
He writes not of entitlement. He writes of faith and contentment. He writes of a relationship, one which defines his life. This means what he thinks or feels he deserves from others does not define his life.
No, he is aware that we each have certain rights. Sure, we do. Yet, those rights never are fully met. Good persons, and godly persons, suffer loss of job, divorce, financial strain, death of a loved one, faltering health, mental disorders, ... In other words, no one is immune to the conditions common to all persons. Indeed, he or she who is spiritually hearted may suffer as much loss of what he or she has a right to as anyone else.
* * *
A relationship - one Relationship - finally defines a spiritual person, not relationships. What can persons do? - friends can deny or betray us; spouses can run off and leave us; brothers and sisters can harbor resentment against us; employers can fire us; foes can seek to discredit us; almost everyone may choose to ignore us; ...
So, we need a shift from what we feel entitled to. That change of heart is about grounding ourselves in trusting the Divine Presence and opening our hearts to a contentment only God can give us.
No, this does not mean you will not be hurt by life or others. This does not mean you will not feel at times that what you deserve was not given you. Rather, you may well have these thoughts and feelings but they will not define or control you. Your union with Grace will define your response inwardly and outwardly to all your other relationships, and life itself.
Still, we need not expect we will find this an easy practice. Rather, we will need to be alert, again and again, to how we slip into the grumblings of failed entitlements. We are each more selfish, likely, than we ever thought. And as we get closer to the Divine Presence, our subtle self-centeredness comes more into awareness.
This need not be a cause of discouragement, for this means we are moving more into the Light. Now, we can work with our self-centeredness graciously. This it not about becoming discontent with our discontentment. Be kind to yourself; do not feel entitled to be beyond being human.
* * *
Now, how do we address this call of dying to the entitled life and living by faith in Divine provision, as members of spiritual community? We do not do it alone. This is not a humanistic you-can-do-it-by-yourself matter. The enablings to fulfill Christian living are within the Body of Christ, of brothers and sisters in Spirit, and the activation of the Gifts of ministry to each other by the Spirit.
One gifted ministry in the Body of Christ is essential to urge others in faith, especially during trying times. This gift can be called The Ministry of Exhortation. The Greek "exhortation" is parakaleo. This means - "to call to the side;... To appeal, entreat, to admonish, exhort, to urge on to pursue some course of conduct. To turn forward, to propel, hence to impel morally,..." (Vine's Expository Dictionary, 1981).
St. Paul lists exhortation as a ministry gift whereby members of the Church minister to other members in the Body of Christ:
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
*Romans 12.6-8 (ESV, Emphasis Added)
Therefore, he or she who has the ministry of exhortation is present among Christians to encourage others to trust, discern the Divine Guidance, and rejoice in the present and future provisions given by God.
So, with the call to live beyond entitlement, there may be trying times when we need one called alongside us. When you are in such a time, and you want to get down and doubtful, pray for Spirit to join you with persons who have the gift of encouragement. Do not feel yourself above the weakness of needing such. Humble yourself and let persons with the gift of exhortation encourage you, console you, and challenge you to trust and not stay in any state of self-pity or captive to feelings of being a victim.
God is not a victim. So, how can you be in God, in Love, and be a victim? That is impossible. The exhorter reminds you of that Truth. You can be a victim in your mind, never actually as you are in Christ.
* * *
So, look at your life. Maybe you tend to see all what you do not have, what has not been rightly given you. Now, look once more. Can you look with the heart of the Puritan - looking at what you have, counting your blessings, and saying, "All this and Jesus too?"
Yes, you can have it. You can have all that you have been given, and Love too. No, you may not be able to have much of what you wanted and think you have a right to. But you can have this. Can that be enough for you?
Blessings!
Rev Dr Brian K. Wilcox
Tuesday the First, Easter Season
April 14, 2009
QUIETLY RESPONDING
Is your usual attitude shaped more by what you have or do not have?
What might you be bitter about, thinking you did not get - are not getting - what you deserve? Are these things worth losing peace over? Being a cause of conflict in your relationships with others?
Can you look at your life today and be grateful, seeing that for today you have enough? Can you trust God for tomorrow? Can you learn to be more content with less?
What gains might arise in your life by being more content with less?
How does your relationship with God shape your response to all your other relationships? Life itself? How would you want it to shape these responses?
* * *
*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian K. Wilcox, of SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis. Brian is an ecumenical spiritual leader, open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Contact the above email to book Brian for Spiritual Direction, retreats, or workshops. You can order his book An Ache for Union at major book dealers.
|
