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St. Luke 14.25-30 (NAB)
Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, "If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, 'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.'"
Comments
Viktor E. Frankl, in Man's Search for Meaning, writes of life's transitoriness. He assures us this transitoriness does not make life meaningless. But "it does constitute our responsibleness; for everything hinges upon our realizing the essentially transitory possibilities."
So, each of us constantly makes choices regarding the mass of potentialities. We decide which of these will be relegated to nonbeing, or never materialize, and which will be actualized. Frankl reminds us in each moment the human person must decide, for better or worse, what will be the monument of his or her existence. Existence is always arising from our choices.
Jesus spoke of responsibleness. Jesus seemed more concerned with our taking responsibility than our being right or wrong. Jesus believed in the creativity of our power to choose and the consequences of the decisions. Jesus compared discipleship, for instance, to a man about to build a tower. Jesus commented that the man would want to make sure he could afford to finish the tower before beginning to build.
Responsibleness is freeing. With responsibleness we reflect the creativity and process of God. We participate in birthing potentialities. We celebrate achievements. We are free from feeling we must always succeed or be right. No, we do not have to always be successful or right, for we can have failures and make errors and still have acted from a mature responsibleness, even as we can do the right thing from a spirit of faithlessness.
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We are each building a monument of our existence. This responsibility means, while we get guidance and encouragement from others, each of us must make our choices and take full responsibility for all the resultant potentialities we bring into existence: our existence, the collective existence. Community implies that the potentialities we each choose to give fruition to influences others.
This means that we are not pessimistic but activistic. Choices pull us into the vibrancy of this second.
And along the way we can look honestly and see what monument our decisions are giving form to and how our choices are influencing the potential choices of others. We can make other choices to shape it into more of what would reflect the kindness with which we what to be known and by which we will to live.
Life is always under revision, for we must redirect energies for others and our own good. We no longer look for a nurse to take care of us, we no longer seek a parent to protect us, we no longer ask God to save us from responsibility to shape a life.
God is Love in that God blesses us with the same freedom-within-creativity that God exercises. In this we are necessarily godly, even if we misuse this gift of freedom. God will not save us from our gift of creativity: not to act is still a creative choice. God is Love in that God presses us into moments of decision that are decisive for others and us, that we together and as persons might evolve in godlikeness.
*OneLife writings are offered by Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist pastor serving in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He writes in the spirit of John Wesley's focus on the priority of inner experience of the Triune God; scriptural holiness; ongoing sanctification; the goal of Christian perfection (or, wholeness). Brian seeks to integrate the best of the contemplative teachings of Christianity East and West, from the patristic Church to the present. Brian lives a vowed contemplative life with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, in North Florida. OneLife writings are for anyone seeking to live and share love, joy, and peace in the world and in devotion to God as she or he best understands God.
**Brian's book An Ache for Union, a book of poems on mystical union with God through love, can be ordered through major on-line bookdealers.
The Grace of God be with All!
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