Saturday, May 16, 2015

Christ the Remedy

How can the sinner, born in darkness,
enter into perfect light?
When the Rad'iance bore our shadow
how the Son erased our night!

How can the sinner, ever lawless,
ever receive righteousness?
When the Judge was declared guilty-
how He justified the wretch!

How can the sinner, self-enslaving,
come to live in liberty?
When the Firstborn paid our ransom-
how His chains did set us free!

How can the sinner, satan's offspring,
be known as a child of God?
When God the Son worked our adoption-
how He called us daughters, sons!

How can the sinner, dead of spirit,
enter life eternally?
When Eternal Life died for us-
how death's winter turned to spring!


Jesus Christ, the Remedy,
my every ailment healed;
there is no brokenness too great
for all the love You have revealed.


Saturday, May 9, 2015

Reading the Old Testament with the Magic Eye

Do you remember those Magic Eye posters that were popular in the 90's? They appeared as meaningless patterns, swirls and mis-matched colors broken into un-understandable gibberish. You could stare all day at a corner of the poster, labeling each pixel by color and position, and never have any idea what they were about. Yet if you stood back, and allowed your focus to shift- suddenly an image would take form. What appeared meaningly and random now revealed intention, design.

I think we often read the Old Testament in isolated parts, and expect each part to stand alone- most obvious in our reading of the conquest of Canaan. We expect to see God fully visible in every second, to have our reason, our understanding fully appeased in every episode of His workings. Yet we read of a God who sometimes relents of destruction, but who other times requires it. We read of a God who forgives some sins quickly, and yet brings just punishment down on others. If we read the Old Testament as isolated parts, we are tempted to see a capricious God, a whimsical God, an unmeasured and dangerous God.

And indeed He is dangerous, as C.S. Lewis well portrays. And He does act differently in different times, this is true. Yet His plans have purpose, purpose only visible when we step back and allow our vision to widen and to shift.

To step back, we must read scripture in context. We must understand what happens throughout the bible- not that God is fully revealed in each moment, but progressively through different and building revelations of Himself over time. These specific narratives only make sense as part of a greater story, He is not capricious, or whimsical, or unmeasured. His work is intentional, each moment a determined step towards an intentional determined end- that of calling His people back to Himself.

Yet to step back is not enough. To see the story of God clearly, to understand His plan, there must be a shift in our focus. We must shift from being ones who seek to figure God out, to those who submit to Him. We must change from fearful caution against being fooled, to loving trust for a God who's plan is larger, grander, and more wonderful than any we could understant. This is a shift of focus only possible in Christ, for there we find the grander end, the plan that makes all the steps worthwhile. There we find a God who is trustworthy, whether we understand or not. From this position, then, we begin to truly understand the scope of God's redemptive story, and the role that each particular part plays in the whole.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Religion and Spirituality

I was listening to NPR while driving the other day, and heard an interview in which spirituality was being compared to religion. Spirituality was defined as the sum of a personal search for purpose, joy, meaning. Religion was defined as a truth system in which meaning was already defined.

The guest was explaining how spirituality felt so much more vibrant than religion to him. Spirituality, he said, is the realm of questions, while religion is the realm of pat answers. 'What's the joy, the mystery, the wonder,' the interviewee asked, 'in knowing everything? I'd much rather the adventure of unknowing, of mystery, of questions. Give me spirituality over religion any day.'

I found this an endearing point, for I too long for mystery. I desire the adventure of the unknown, the joy of exploration and wonder of discovery.

But I question a fundamental premise of the interviewee's statement. His opinion hinges on one unfounded point: that questions are dynamic, while answers are static. He assumes that an answer is by definition a conclusion, that an arrival is by definition the end of the journey. But any adventurer, scientist, child will tell you- discovery is never the end. It is the beginning of a greater world than previously known. This is like telling my younger cousin that the greatest of joys is looking out of the window- going outside would ruin it all. In truth, questions inspire us for they are intended to lead us to discovery. And discovery is never the end- it is a beginning.

Let us consider again my cousin's window. From it we might wonder at the outside world, but from it we will never adventure into it. Is climbing out of the window into the fields, then, into the forest, the river- is this the death of wonder? Of mystery? Of Joy? No- these things sprout with questions, but bloom with discovery.

To say it another way: according to the interviewee, spirituality is wondering what can be seen from atop that distant mountain, while religion tells you: some rocks, some trees, and a stream that curves like this. Rats, religion- you just took all the fun out of it.

But what if spirituality wonders at the mountain, while religion climbs this mountain, only to marvel at the range of mountains now visible from its peak? What if spirituality wonders at but one feature of geography, while religion (with a single answer) now wonders at the vastness of the world seen from its peak, the vastness of a world with lines that fade into eternity?

You see, to remain in personal spirituality is actually to limit oneself. It is to limit one's wonder. Truly, it is the answer-refusing questions of personal spirituality that remain static, not the wonder-producing answers of religion.

Imagine that you meet someone. You are immediately intrigued by them. You wonder about their life, their loves, their interests. And so you resolve never to talk to them again, because to do so would jeopardize the joy of your personal mystery.

How silly that would be! How sadly narcissistic. No, the joy of falling in love is not found in drifting aimlessly in one's personal queries. It is the exploration of something new, something mysterious, something eternal in the other. And the wonder of falling in love is that you never reach bottom. Feelings may change, desires may change, but even those who have been married for decades will tell you, the mystery remains. Being with a person, knowing things about that person, does not dampen your appreciation of their mystery- it deepens it.

It is too low a view of spirituality to assume that its questions are one-dimensional and cannot be answered or built upon. Likewise, it is too low a view of religion to see its answers as static conclusions. Religion, defined as a truth system, is not an end but the beginning. It is the open window, the first mountain peak lifting our eyes unto a world so rich with glory that we could never have imagined it. It is the falling in love with an Eternal Other, a Living Answer, a Known Mystery, forever to be explored and enjoyed and wondered about.