Waiting Upon the Lord

 

But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint

-Isaiah 40:31

Walter Breuggemann wrote, "It is such an intellectual travesty, such an act of chutzpah, such a subversive poetic utterance that dumps a poem in the midst of resignation." 

How does this poem fit into our world? Into our lives? Is it an intellectual travesty - a misplacement of hope - a strange optimism when compared to what surrounds us? War, political unrest, religious division, addiction, hate, horror?  In other words, can we even imagine mounting up with wings like eagles?

It is a beautiful image, a lovely poem, but is the hope real? I'm not asking you if God is real; I'm asking if the hope is imaginable?

I think when you experience it, when you are in the midst of grief or pain, and you call upon the Lord, and find God, then the hope is real. The experience reminds us of the truth of the hope.

I live in a world where political candidates are literally declaring in television ads that it is our "God-given right to own a gun."  It's the worst kind of religious nationalism.  I can't imagine how people or beliefs can be reconciled. And yet, there is this hope that when we wait upon the Lord, unimagined things happen.

Book Review: A Way Other than Our Own

 Information about the book

A Way Other than our Own: Devotions for Lent by Walter Brueggemann.  Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2016. (Amazon)

Summary

From Amazon: Lent recalls times of wilderness and wandering, from newly freed Hebrew slaves in exile to Jesus' temptation in the desert. God has always called people out of their safe, walled cities into uncomfortable places, revealing paths they would never have chosen. Despite our culture of self-indulgence, we too are called to walk an alternative path - one of humility, justice, and peace. Walter Brueggemann's thought-provoking reflections for the season of Lent invite us to consider the challenging, beautiful life that comes with walking the way of grace.

Impressions

I read this book as a Lenten devotional practice. It is easily managed as a devotion a day, and it written in a way that it will work for any year. 

I found Brueggemann's writing to be interesting and engaging. He is a skilled word craftsman. More than that, though, the devotions were thought-provoking.  I found myself highlighting sentences and re-reading passages in order to soak in every detail.  It is an excellent Lenten resource.

Can the world be different than our own selfish ways would have it to be?

Posts about book

Posts that reference this book (and there are many) have this tag --> Brueggermann Way

Born Again

Can you tell my thoughts and writing are lately influenced by Walter Breuggemann's book, A Way other than our Own?  In one of the devotions I read, he used the John 3 passage about Jesus's meeting with Nicodemus to inspire the writing.  He compares the experience of being born again to the characteristics of a baby: innocent, vulnerable, dependent.

I don't know about you, but those aren't words I want to be used to describe me as an adult.  We strive to not be dependent, to not show vulnerability, and to be cynical rather than innocent (or naive). And yet, I think Breuggemann would say that when we think about our relationships with God and with others, our goals are backwards. 

Serving God and serving others in love means stepping out in vulnerability, doesn't it? God wants us to depend on God and to not depend on ourselves. And sometimes cynicism gets in the way of relationship.

Honestly, sometimes I struggle with the phrase "born again" because (in my opinion) it has been corrupted by the conservative church to have a particular meaning or to be a particular gateway. Being born again has come to mean a lightning experience of a particular moment. Your born again experience can be judged against these standards to see if it measures up.  (my cynicism is showing - sorry).

I think being born again means recreation. It means a transformation.  I think it can happen in a moment, but I also think it can happen through time.  I think it also means that God can recreate us every day.  Our journey through sacntification means that we are changed from yesterday, but that we will be different tomorrow.  I know that justification and sanctification aren't the same in Wesley's language, but grace is grace. But of my sanctification means that I am invited to say "yes" to God every day. I am invited to experience "born again" every morning. I can open myself up to vulnerability fresh with the new day; to be naive and to once again depend on God for my daily bread.

May you be born again today.

 

Self-denial

I read this the other day in Walter Brueggemann's book, A Way other than our Own:

To deny self means that I cannot be a self-starter, cannot be self-sufficient, cannot be self-made or self-securing, and that to try to do so will end in isolation and fear and greed and brutality and finally in violence.

What do you think of that quote? I posted it on Facebook and had a couple of comments that surprised me.  It could be that my thoughts were different from theirs because I had the benefit of context.

I think it means that when we try to center our lives on ourselves, then we place priority on (and get our identity from) what we earn, what we have, what others see us as.  None of those are very good at defining who we are or why we are here.  Concentrating on ourselves, therefore, can lead to fear and isolation, greed and brutality, and eventually violence.

Alternatively, when we center our lives on God, we do get a sense of who we are, who we are meant to be, and what our purpose is. We know we are loved, and our self-worth can stem from that instead of what we own or what power we have.

I never thought of that as self-denial, but I can see it.

 

A Flood of Fidelity

After the floods came
and Noah's family stepped into the world,
God started a new flood,
a flood of fidelity.

Great is God's faithfulness.

When we see a cold, hungry person

asleep on the street,

and we turn the other way,

we have a second chance.

A flood of fidelity.

Neighborliness.

Generosity.

Empathy.

When we want to strike out

at the person who disagrees with us.

When the world's divisions

overcome us,

we have a second chance.

A flood of fidelity.

Forgiveness.

Curiosity.

Grace.

When we find ourselves

in the center of our own sin,

and we see no way out.

When darkness is all around us,

we have a second chance.

A flood of fidelity.

Repentance.

Restart.

Rebuilding.

Great is God's faithfulness.

Great can be our faithfulness.

For we float on a sea -

a flood -

of fidelity.

It is our second chance.

It is our way back.

It is our grace from God.

Hope.

Peace.

Love.

A flood of fidelity.

Inspired by a devotion in the book A Way Other than our Own by Walter Brueggermann.

In the World a New Way

From Brueggermann's book, A Way Other than our Own:  "Jesus affirmed that it is possible to be in the world in a new way, to be present to the people and problems around us with some newness and freshness."  He is comparing this to our tendency to live life with an attitude of anxiety and worry. 

He also writes:

"Get your mind off yourself long enough to care; to be so concerned about the well-being of the human community that you don't have to worry about your place, your church your class, your values, your vested interests."

Understand, he isn't talking about anxiety in a medical sense.  He's talking about the anxiety and worry we feel because we are so focused on what we own, what we believe defines us, or even our values.  What is it that we value?  Our stuff? Our money? Our clothes?

What if we were to live life a different way, focusing on the well-being of the person in front of us instead of ourselves?  Or if we took the time to care about someone else instead of just ourselves?

It would be living life in a whole new way.

 

Traveling Mercies

I'm reading the book A Way Other than our Own by Walter Brueggemann during Lent.  The prayer at the end of today's reading says, "Self-giving God, call us to walk the road of newness - a new self, a new society, a new world, one neighbor at a time.  May we have traveling mercies this Lenten season. Amen"

If we consider the time of Lent as a journey, and we pray for traveling mercies, what are we asking for? Traveling mercies in a prayer usually means protection from that which might bring us harm - a car accident, an unexpected acute illness, or a plane crash - anything like that that will hurt us or even end our lives, right? So what would traveling mercies on a Lenten journey look like?

• Protection from our own selfishness so that we can be generous and not self-centered as we interact with others.
• Mercy from laziness, maybe, so that we can uphold any commitments we have made to spiritual disciplines during Lent. 
• A graceful nudge of correction when we stumble off the path God has set for us during Lent so that our paths are  made straight.
• Healing from the blindness of not noticing that God is near and traveling with us.
• A loving hug when we forget to love our neighbors as ourselves.

What Lenten traveling mercy would you ask of God?