Following His Presence

And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." Then he said to Him, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” (Ex.33:14-15)

Humility is submission to God. But it is even more than subjecting yourself to God’s will. Humility is subjecting yourself only to God’s will. It is obeying God and no one else. It is having no other gods before Him. Like Moses, we need to say, “If You don’t go with us, we don’t want to go.” We should only want to be where God is and go where He leads us. We should forsake all our plans and ambitions that have not come from God. Let us not go and expect God’s presence to go with us, but rather go where His presence goes. And He will give us rest – complete contentment and peace.

Christ's Humility

Augustine said the following about Christ's himulity:
"The Word of the Father, by whom all time was created, was made flesh and was born in time for us. He, without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one day for His human birth. In the bosom of His Father He existed before all the cycles of ages; born of an earthly mother, He entered upon the course of the years on this day.
The Maker of man became man that He, Ruler of the stars, might be nourished at the breast; that He, the Bread, might be hungry; that He, the Fountain, might thirst; that He, the Light, might sleep; that He, the Way, might be wearied by the journey; that He, the Truth, might be accused by false witnesses; that He, the Judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial by a mortal judge; that He, Justice, might be condemned by the unjust; that He, Discipline, might be scourged with whips; that He, the Foundation, might be suspended upon a cross; that Courage might be weakened; that Security might be wounded; that Life might die.
To endure these and similar indignities for us, to free us, unworthy creatures, He who existed as the Son of God before all ages, without a beginning, deigned to become the Son of Man in these recent years. He did this although He who submitted to such great evils for our sake had done no evil and although we, who were the recipients of so much good at His hands, had done nothing to merit these benefits."

The Exodus Pattern

Reading through Exodus I am starting to make sense of some of those "boring" chapters. There are several chapters devoted to property laws, treatment of slaves and appropriate degree of punishment for various offences (of course, not as detailed as Leviticus). It is interesting that those chapters come after Israel has been delivered from Egypt and seem to be God's way of teaching His people how to live as a redeemed people. So, the emerging pattern is redemption first, instruction second. Israel experienced God's power and is now expected to live under God's rule. God has credibility and authority in Israel's eyes, so it is only natural that they accept His instruction in the new and better lifestyle.
We are prone to reverse this sequence. We expect people unfamiliar with Christ to first learn to live like a Christian promising that manifestations of God's power will follow. It does sometimes happen this way, but more often then not God's redemptive power remains but a hollow promise. We argue with them that our faith is logical and believable, that the Christian lifestyle is the safest one, that they need to believe what the Bible say, etc. What if we just invited them to participate in our life and witness and experience God's redemptive power? What if we relied on God to redeem them before we start reforming them? In other words, what if we put evangelism before discipleship? God needs to become credible before they will follow His instructions.

Abandonement

In today’s reading Henri Nouwen quotes Charles de Foucauld’s prayer of abandonment. He prays, “…I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve and with boundless confidence.” What a beautiful way to describe the central ambition of the Christian life! Our surrender into God’s hands must be without reserve and with boundless confidence, or it is no surrender at all. As Paul admonishes us, we must consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom.6:11). One cannot die while reserving some life. Death is complete, final, irreversible. And so should our abandonment into God’s hands be. Except that we surrender ourselves with boundless confidence that we will find life in God. And not just any life but a life that is authentic and meaningful. It is the kind of life that makes death excusable and worthwhile. I pray that the Holy Spirit will cultivate this holy ambition in my heart to abandon myself into God’s hands without reserve and with boundless confidence.

Moses, Aaron and Hur

As I read through Exodus (and I am really enjoying it) this passage once again got my attention.
Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. (Ex.17:10-13)

As someone who participated in an Eastern Orthodox wedding ceremony and had to hold a crown over the groom’s head for about an hour, I understand the difficulty Moses must have had in keeping his arms up. As a Christian trying to live in obedience to my Lord, I understand how extremely difficult it is to be victorious in this pursuit. Only a fool believes that he will succeed in the Christian life apart from the community of other disciples. And even a greater fool thinks he can lead others to victory without other believers supporting and leading him. As much as I affirm the personal element of our faith – personal commitment to Jesus, personal spiritual disciplines and such – it must be complimented by participation in community. None of us can keep our hands raised all day long. We need someone to fetch a rock so we can sit down and someone else to support our arms while the battle is still going. Our family has been part of a small group in our church. In the short few months that we have been meeting together, there has already been a lot of rock moving and hand propping. And, I like to think, a couple victories.

The Descending Way

Here is a selection from today’s lenten reading by Henri Nouwen.

“The love of God has become visible in Jesus. How is that love made visible through Jesus? It is made visible in the descending way. That is the great mystery of the Incarnation. God has descended to us human beings to become a human being with us; and once among us, descended to the total dereliction of one condemned to death. ... God’s way can be grasped only in prayer. The more you listen to God speaking with you, the sooner you will hear that voice inviting you to follow the way of Jesus. For Jesus’ way is God’s way and God’s way is not for Jesus only but for everyone who is truly seeking God. Here we come up against the hard truth that the descending way of Jesus is also for us to find God. Jesus doesn’t hesitate for a moment to make that clear.”

What strikes me about the Incarnation is that Jesus did not simply become human but the lowest of humans. Jesus is not only the meeting point for God and people but He is the meeting point for God and any person. In Him all people can find God because He has descended low enough to reach everyone. If Jesus only descended to the position of an earthly king, than He would have saved kings but not beggars and lepers. He descended all the way, emptied Himself, so we could be filled with God. We are called to this descending way. We are called to this incarnational life. To be close to God is to be close to Jesus. Where is Jesus? He is rejected by all, without home, being murdered by enemies and betrayed by friends. That is where you meet Him – on the descending way.

Faith

What is faith if not a response to God's word? It is not surprising that in some liturgies the Creed comes right after the sermon. God speaks and we answer with "I believe". Faith is listening to God speak, accepting His words as truth and anticipating their fulfilment. Faith is going forth, moving forward on the sole basis of God's word. Having faith means leaving without knowing where God is leading you, because we heard Him call us. Like Abraham, we leave but not arrive. We leave a place where our words are remembered and head somewhere where our words may matter again. In between, there remains only God's word of promise which sustains us during the whole journey. Faith, as it turns out, is not the absence of doubt but responding to God's word in spite of doubt, in spite of fear and in spite of failure. Even, in spite of unbelief. Faith is much more about obedience than knowledge which is why Kierkegaard said, "It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey."
About a week ago I heard from our friends in Kiev. Igor and Raya heard God's word and responded in faith. They are adopting twin baby girls who were abandoned by their mother in the hospital. Having heard about the babies from her cousin, Raya heard God saying, "These are your children." They have responded in faith in spite of the doctors saying one of the girl's brain may have been damaged during delivery and if she makes it at all she will likely have serious developmental problems. They have responded to God's word in spite of the cultural stigma against adoption and notoriously long and confusing legal process. They already have three girls of their own and are considered a big family by Ukrainians. Igor has been praying for a boy and now God gives him two more girls. They don't have money or enough space in their two bedroom apartment. But they have faith in God's word spoken to them. Oh, yes, they named the girls Faith and Hope.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is about repentance. We turn away from sin and embrace the Gospel. We put a cross of ash on our foreheads (figuratively or literally) and acknowledge that we are dust and live only by God's breath. In most cases, make-up conceals what we really look like, however, this ashen cross reveals who we really are -- desperate beggars for God's mercy. Henri Nouwen warns us about being so overwhelmed by our sinfulness that we get paralyzed by guilt, unable to receive God's mercy and be renewed in His love. Repentance is not about death but life. Just as joy is unleashed by suffering, so hope is conceived by repentance. I must live in the aura of God's mercy. I cannot give into the calm of sin's oppression and the pride of refusing help. Rather, I should celebrate God's mercy with the exuberance of a liberated slave.

Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. This is my third year of observing Lent and I look forward to it. I find it to be a significant time of reflection, discipline and deeper identification with Christ. It helps me to prepare for and celebrate Easter in a much more profound way. This year I decided to give up a few things: watching TV, eating sweets, fast food, drinking pop and alcoholic beverages, etc. I am also adding a few disciplines: reading Scripture in the morning and in the evening (Exodus and Hebrews, for sure), following Henri Nouwen's "Show Me the Way (Daily Lenten Readings)", speaking in a more edifying way with my wife, reading Bible stories to my girls every night, etc. I also want to try to journal/blog during Lent. We will see what insights and changes God will bring about before Easter.