{"id":3739,"date":"2024-06-13T07:30:25","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T11:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3739"},"modified":"2024-06-13T07:30:25","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T11:30:25","slug":"fill-in-the-blanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/13\/fill-in-the-blanks\/","title":{"rendered":"Fill in the Blanks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

What exactly does Jesus ask of his followers?

Most of us quietly hope it won\u2019t be too costly.

Author Anne Lamott wonders aloud, \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t Jesus command us to obsess about everything, to try to control and manipulate people\u2026to stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a big bag of Hershey\u2019s Kisses in bed?\u201d\u00a0That\u2019s an assignment most of us could handle.

Various Christian groups tend to promote a signature behavior or decisive act that is assumed to surpass everything else.

If we work a little bit, we can even express the most common alternatives (the \u201cspecial sauce\u201d of each group) as words that fill in a pair of blanks:

In order to experience the fullness of the life to which God calls us, all we need to do is \u201cblank what is blank.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>

In no particular order, here are the nominees:

Accept What is Offered.\u00a0<\/strong>Churches of the evangelical and revivalist traditions are eager to help people get their tickets punched for heaven.\u00a0Jesus offers the gift of eternal life.\u00a0That can become ours by praying a certain prayer, walking a certain aisle, or surrendering ourselves with open-hearted trust.

Once that mission is accomplished, however, it\u2019s less clear what is one supposed to do between now and their last day on earth.

Believe What is Correct.\u00a0<\/strong>This is the gospel of right theology.\u00a0We\u2019re called to get the right answers concerning baptism, poverty, the book of Revelation, and virtually everything else.\u00a0The problem is that the Bible doesn\u2019t present itself as a textbook that has to be memorized in order to pass some kind of final exam.

As Walker Percy says about one of his fictional characters:\u00a0\u201cHe got all the right answers but flunked life.\u201d

Do What is Right.\u00a0<\/strong>This might mean working for social justice, freeing oppressed peoples, or transforming broken social structures.\u00a0Action-oriented groups, however, tend to be comparatively less passionate about spiritual practices like prayer, worship, and evangelism.

Avoid What is Wrong.\u00a0<\/strong>This is the flip side of the previous option, and has become an attractive rallying point for fundamentalist Christians.\u00a0Who could quarrel with trying to stay out of trouble at every possible turn?\u00a0Actually, Jesus did.\u00a0He taught, as a matter of emphasis, that it is far healthier (and a lot more joyful) to walk with our heads up than to be obsessed with not falling.<\/em>

Partake What is Redemptive.\u00a0<\/strong>This is the historic posture of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions.\u00a0At its best it mediates the beauty of a sacramental encounter with the Living Christ.\u00a0But it can also tempt busy worshipers to show up and go through the liturgical motions as a way of \u201cchecking the God box\u201d this week.

Fix What is Broken.\u00a0<\/strong>This is the therapeutic vision of spirituality.\u00a0We are a mess, but God is our faithful Healer.\u00a0Life is a long, restorative journey \u2013 so long, in fact, that it\u2019s possible I\u2019ll become overly preoccupied with Me and never get around to loving and serving others.

Get What is Missing.\u00a0<\/strong>This is the Back to the Future <\/em>version of Christianity.\u00a0If we can just get into the right De Lorean, travel at the right speed, and end up at just the right place at the right time, spiritual lightning will come down from heaven and supercharge our inner worlds.\u00a0This hope animates a number of Pentecostal and charismatic fellowships.

When all else fails, what do pastors hope their people might\u00a0do?\u00a0

Attend What is Scheduled.\u00a0<\/strong>The best one-word assessment of that strategy?\u00a0Yikes.\u00a0<\/em>

The list could go on.\u00a0There is good support for each of these formulas, and we would neglect any of them at our peril (with the exception of the last one).

So is there one behavior, if mastered, that might be the key to experiencing all the others?

Follow the One Who is Faithful.<\/strong>

You\u2019re right:\u00a0I just altered the formula.\u00a0The \u201cwhat\u201d became a \u201cwho.\u201d

And that makes all the difference in the world.

The heart of Christianity is not a spiritual SAT exam, or a litany of Don\u2019ts, or a never-ending series of good works.

It is the adventure of a living relationship with a Living Person.

Paul makes that clear in Colossians 2:6-7: \u201cSo then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,\u00a0continue to live your lives in him,\u00a0rooted\u00a0and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,\u00a0and overflowing with thankfulness\u201d (New International Version).

Here\u2019s how Eugene Peterson renders the same two verses in his paraphrase called The Message<\/em>:

\u201cMy counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you\u2019ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now\u00a0live<\/em>\u00a0him. You\u2019re deeply rooted in him. You\u2019re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you\u2019ve been taught. School\u2019s out; quit studying the subject and start\u00a0living<\/em>\u00a0it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.\u201d

We follow the One who is faithful \u2013 knowing full well that his faithfulness to us is the only chance we will ever have of being faithful to him.

So we can begin each morning with a prayer \u2013 something like this:

Lord, what shall we do together today? How are you calling me to deepen my love for you and my love for others?<\/em>

Then we count on God\u2019s Spirit to fill in the blanks.\u00a0
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here What exactly does Jesus ask of his followers? Most of us quietly hope it won\u2019t be too costly. Author Anne Lamott wonders aloud, \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t Jesus command us to obsess about everything, to try to control and manipulate people\u2026to stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-3739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-commitment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3741,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739\/revisions\/3741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}