The title of my blog is taken from a chapter found in The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. I just finished reading it, and the chapter entitled “The Second Call” had a profound impact on me. Check out what Manning says:
“This is what the second call of Jesus Christ means today: A summons to a new and more radical leap in hope, to an existential commitment to the Good News of the wedding feast. If we believe the exciting message of Jesus, if we hope in vindication, we must love, and even more, we must run the risk of being loved…The call asks, do you really accept the message that God is head over heals in love with you? If in our hearts we really don’t believe that God loves us as we are, if we are still tainted by the lie that we can do something to make God love us more, we are rejecting the message of the cross.”
I appreciated these words because I come from a somewhat legalistic background that places a high priority on works, and leaves little room for experience. As a result, much of my Christian walk feels like it has been lifeless and devoid of passion. Notice some of the words that Manning uses: “radical leap, existential, exciting, risk, head over heals in love.” Those are the sorts of words that I want to use to describe my faith. I am tired of going through the motions of prayer, praise, confession, etc. I want to find in myself that place that Thomas Kelly describes in his work, A Testament of Devotion:
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. It is a light which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon our faces.”
To be an effective minister I believe that I need a place of security that I can that run too when confronted with apathy, disinterest, resistance to the Spirit, and all the other influences that come from congregations and that I place on myself. This fortress of solitude cannot be built overnight, and will require constant upkeep. But without it, I fear I will become another statistic in the Barna Research of those out of the ministry.
I will deal more with how this inner fortress is built in the next post, and probably throughout the rest of the blog. Any insight along the way will be greatly appreciated.
2 comments:
Although I might've just done this in my most recent post, I think it is dangerous to pit abstaining from sin, faith, and loving actions against one another. Having proper beliefs to experience God more seems to be almost as foolish as works as thinking works will help us experience God.
I think Epehsians 2:something sums up the relationship very well. I'm at work, so I can't be completely accurate. We are saved by grace through faith for works.
I agree that we need to have a relationship with God that is characterized by those words, “radical leap, existential, exciting, risk, head over heals in love." From my experience I feel we reach those feelings when we are in step with his will and see him working through us and around us. This happens when we are in this journey with other believers. I think he hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "we must love, and even more, we must run the risk of being loved."
God has been experienced in my life through my great relationships with fellow sojourners.
Thanks for sharing Sam. I don't even know why I shared this. I'm tired. I look forward to reading more of what you say.
Sam,
Good topic. If I compare my relationship with God with other relationships, the works are a necessary part of loving someone. But we must be careful not to think that such actions can get someone to love us. This is especially true with God who already loves fully. There is nothing which we can do to make him love us more. If we are deceived into thinking we can make him love us more with our deeds we will wear ourselves out with uninspired deeds. Risking being loved has very little (if anything) to do with what work we do.
Shannon Caroland
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