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I Peter 2.1-12 (CEV)
1Stop being hateful! Quit trying to fool people, and start being sincere. Don't be jealous or say cruel things about others. 2Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved. 3You have already found out how good the Lord really is.
4Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored. 5And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God. 6It is just as God says in the Scriptures,
"Look! I am placing in Zion
a choice and precious
cornerstone.
No one who has faith
in that one
will be disappointed."
7You are followers of the Lord, and that stone is precious to you. But it isn't precious to those who refuse to follow him. They are the builders who tossed aside the stone that turned out to be the most important one of all. 8They disobeyed the message and stumbled and fell over that stone, because they were doomed.
9But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say,
10"Once you were nobody.
Now you are God's people.
At one time no one
had pity on you.
Now God has treated you
with kindness.
11Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. 12Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do.
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In the last lesson, we asked the first question arising from the I Peter text: "Who are we?" Now, if that is who we are, what is our function?
We move from identity to action, not action to identity, for spiritual action derives from spiritual be-ing. Indeed, the mistake of trying to get Christians who do not know who they are to behave Christian may be one of the, if not the, most prevalent mistake in Christian churches.
The Scripture says our function is~and I quote directly from the Peter passage:
1) Come to Jesus Christ.
2) And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house.
3) You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices
that please God.
4) Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done.
5) Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong.
I will write on the first function today. This function is the most important.
First, living the Christian life means to come to Jesus Christ. Why would the writer say to Christians to do that? Have they not already come to Jesus? Of course. But this first coming is only a beginning, a prototype of other comings.
We must keep coming to Jesus Christ. Our first function in the spiritual Christian life is daily communion with Jesus Christ. Here is Jesus in the Gospel of John:
4Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. 5I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. 6If you don't stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire (15.4-6, CEV).
Renovare, a Christian spiritual ministry based on the teachings of Richard Foster, has the contemplative dimension as one of six essential functions of the Christian life. Renovare says of this contemplation, or "the prayer-filled life": "[It]focuses upon intimacy with God and depth of spirituality. This spiritual dimension addresses the longing for a deeper, more vital Christian experience" (www.renovare.org).
But is this "spiritual dimension" and "depth of spirituality," this contemplative prayer and living, for all Christians? Writes Maxie Dunham [see previous writing]:
* * *
It is hardly debatable that throughout the history of the Church as an institution, there has been a lay/clergy dichotomy – a sharp division between those who “do” ministry and those to whom it is “done.” There is something ironic about the development of this dynamic, because there is absolutely nothing in the New Testament to suggest the notion. Paul Stevens reminds us that the word “‘layperson’ (laikoi) was first used by Clement of Rome at the end of the first century, but was never used by an inspired apostle to describe second-class, untrained, and unequipped Christians.” Stevens suggests that we ought to eliminate it from our vocabulary. I’m not sure about that, but we need to stay aware of the fact that “laity” in its proper New Testament sense of laos – the people of God – is a term of great honor denoting the enormous privilege and mission of the whole people of God.
Here is a rather ironic twist as, again, Paul Stevens reminds us. The word “clergy” comes from [a] Greek word ... which means “the appointed or endowed” ones. But here’s the kicker. In Scripture this word from which we get the word “clergy” is not used for the leaders of the people but for the whole people of God (Colossians 1:12; Ephesians 1:11; Galatians 3:29). Again, ironically, the Church and its constitution is a people without laity in the usual sense of the word, but full of clergy in the true sense of the word – all baptized Christians endowed, commissioned, appointed by God to continue God’s service and mission in the world.
* * *
I submit that possibly one reason behind the oft laxity in spiritual action and character of professing Christians and churches is linked directly to spirituality. Embedded in the mind of many churches is a double-standard. This is the mindset: "The Pastor serves us and the community for us." And, this is what I stress: "He - or she - is to do this consequent of being chosen to be more spiritual than us." This lets laity off the hook, and it puts an irrational burden upon the clergy.
Now, how do we keep joined to Christ, as daily experience of loving and obedient devotion? We will continue this treatment in our next writing, but I conclude with words by Richard Foster on this subject of spiritual formation:
Many today are simply no longer content with either "spiritual goose bumps" or a cerebral religion divorced from life. They are looking for - and expecting - a faith that will substantively transform their lives. Alongside this is the potential for Spiritual Formation to breathe new life into religious experience by reconnecting theology to practice.
*"A Pastoral Letter from Richard J. Foster." www.renovare.org .
Thank God!
* * *
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, and their fish, Hope, in Florida. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and inspires others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ. He advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and the renewal of the focus of the Church on addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons and empathic relating with diverse spiritual traditions, East and West.
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