Principles of authority, part ii

The remaining three principles of authority from this chapter of Abba's Heart (last book at link, at time of posting); I may end up sharing more quotations from them later, but wanted to at least list them:

Authority grows with responsibility. There is a potential flip side, as well: the responsibility entrusted to us will not grow as long as we act outside of the Father's authority.

Authority is exercised through faith and by the words we speak. Personally, I would flip the "by" and "through" in that sentence, but the idea is sound. At the root of our exercise of the authority which Christ has restored to us is our underlying faith in the Father's love for us, and while we must also put it into action, our words are an expression of that authority.

The name of Jesus carries power. The reason for this is partially one of pure semantics: by "name" we mean "authority." "Stop, in the name of the law!" (or "the king!" or even "of love!"?) But the Father's authority flows to us only through out place in His Son, in whom alone we become adoptive sons and daughters of the King. This is why we are called to do everything in the name of Jesus.

Not my will, but thine

There are practical ways in which we each need to apply these words of Jesus, and they're different for each one of us. I think we get a little dismissive of this idea in some of the small things in our lives, especially habitual ways we've come to accept weaknesses over which we have more control than we give ourselves credit. But what if the ramifications are bigger than we think they are?

The resurrected life we're called to live depends on putting more faith in God's revealed plan for us than in our own limited vision. It isn't that God will withhold mercy from us at any point, but the abundant life He wants to give us gets undermined when we fail to walk under His authority.

Now, we need to be on guard against a self-righteous mindset in this, as if we are trying to earn for ourselves what God is freely giving us. After all, it is Christ in us that empowers us to walk in the ways that are best for  us.

Number silliness

I'm a geek. I freely admit it. So, with that out of the way: this is the second possible time in a row that I've seen my pageview count when it was a palindrome. 43334 this time, 43234 the last time; this happens once every hundred (or so) views now, but I don't usually see it.

BTW: it would seem more appropriate if the word for the concept of a palindrome were itself a palindrome.

Principles of authority, part i

I just love this passage I read last week in this book; it has been in my mind all weekend, and strikes me as especially appropriate for Easter. I want to set the context for it, though: Neal is establishing five principles about authority that are crucial for Christians who desire to walk in the kingdom of God. (All quotations from Neal Lozano's Abba's Heart.)

1. Carrying our authority means submitting to Jesus' authority.

We tend to be fine with wielding authority, but not so much with submitting to it. Or: we're perfectly fine with submitting to Jesus' authority as long as we decide for ourselves what that means! Neal talks further about how Jesus' authority flows to us from the Father when we submit to Him, and that's worth reading, too. It's the second principle, though, that contains the passage in which I've been soaking:

2. Walking in one's identity and destiny requires exercising the authority God gives to His children.

This is why the first principle is so very vital for us. If we misunderstand or misapply God's authority in our lives, we lack the power to walk as children of the Kingdom. So here is what has been blessing me:

We discover our identities and fulfill our destinies as we wield His authority . . . The liberation of creation that began with the Son continues with the sons and daughters of God who exercise their Father's authority on earth. This authority was bestowed upon the firstborn over all creation, Jesus the King, and flows to all who receive Him. Jesus has defeated Satan, sin, and death so that He could bring us home. (!) Now we enter His place as a son or daughter and continue the battle in a war He has already won. Every day we enter a battle to become children of God in this world, while at the same time we belong to Him already.

Yes, this is it. We know that Jesus has done it all, and that is true, so we forget that we are the Body of Christ in the world, called to let Him continue to do it through us. So yes: the strife is o'er, the war has been won, but word of our enemy's defeat hasn't reached all the distant battlefields in his theater of operations. And why should it? We keep giving him victory in so many battles by not realizing the authority we have and wielding the loving power it brings to our defense.

Good Friday reflection, 2016

Today was the first Good Friday I've worked in 22 years, but I did take half a day of PTO. Instead of trying to get my usual two hours in the middle of the night on Good Friday, I signed up for 5-6, and jumped at the chance to get a half hour from our deacon's two-hour 6-8 commitment. It worked out very nicely.

There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover; that mystery is Christ. (emphasis added) - From an Easter homily by St. Melito of Sardis, bishop, as quoted in yesterday's Office of Readings

St. Melito goes on to mention many of the ways that Christ was present in or revealed by the events of the Hebrew Scriptures. We can see Him in them, we can learn of Him and even encounter Him there, but any litany of them will fail to touch us unless we are willing to accept Him, that is, to acknowledge that God has an authority over our lives as a result of being Author and Creator and of setting aside His power in favor of His love and mercy. Jesus being the Passover only makes Him my Passover to the degree that I acknowledge that He is my only path from death to life, and begin to respond to the Father's love and mercy in a way that recognizes His Author-ity over my life.

Rescue my soul from the sword,
My life from the grip of these dogs.
Save my life from the jaws of these lions,
My poor soul from the horns of these oxen. - Ps 22: 21-22

David (I presume) was writing of his enemies in these derisive tones, so we must be careful with them. For while these images - dogs, lions, oxen - also represent us in our effect on Jesus' human life, we must not forget that it was perfect Love which caused Him to subject Himself to us and which calls us back to the Heart that has so desperately longed for our return that He would make Himself our sacrifice - even when we would sacrifice nothing of ourselves for His Love. Indeed, St. Paul makes the progression in the letter to the Romans of our still being helpless, then sinners, then enemies, when Christ gave Himself for us.

Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? - Lk 22:48

How often we, too, do this. In our certitude that what we are doing is right - or, perhaps, that we have a right to do this, to wield our power in the way we deem best - we betray God's love, and mercy, and authority over us. We insist on our own authority and our own understanding, and so we apply the stamp of God's will on actions that are really rooted in our own.

It can be a quandary, because what appears to be mercy toward some can look like rejection of others, and even of God. God is always calling us closer, and that means He is always calling us to receive His love and to love as He does, not forsaking the truth, yet inviting judgment on ourselves rather than imposing it on others.

We misunderstand the nature and manifestation of Love, and as we act in our own misunderstanding, we betray Jesus with our embrace, too.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself up unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God!" - Heb 9:13-14

Of course, the goats, bulls and heifer, as well as the ram in the thicket, and the lambs' blood on the Hebrew families' lintels, are but the faintest symbols of the true Lamb. Their greatest importance is to reveal Jesus, who in turn reveals the Father's heart of love for us as He fulfills the purpose of His earthly life. This viewpoint which Neal Lozano has emphasized in Abba's Heart parallels what St. John Chrysostom emphasizes in today's Office of Readings (about which I have reflected on previous Good Fridays).

Do you understand, then, how Christ has united His bride to Himself and what food He gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with His own blood those to whom He Himself has given life. - from the Catecheses by St. John Chrysostom, bishop, as quoted in today's Office of Readings

Even motherhood is a type for Christ. I have so often marveled at the rest of this great reading that I have missed its wonderful conclusion! We are indeed bone from Christ's bone, and flesh from Christ's flesh , sacrificed for us to make us a new creation, an eternal creation, imbued with everlasting life. (Likely most importantly, we are spirit from Christ's Spirit!)

____

Now I want to invoke Fr. Neuhaus a bit, even though I haven't been reading him this season. We call this "Good Friday," even as we rightly acknowledge the role our sin and guilt play in our (my! For each of us, it must be "my," even while it must be also "our") Savior's suffering and death. Perhaps we should call it Great Friday. Redeeming Friday. Delivering Friday. Victory over Sin Friday. Sanctifying Friday. Transforming Friday. All-the-Difference-Making Friday. Perfect Love Friday. It is worth reflecting on in its own right. (Rite, right?)

I look above the tabernacle where my Savior is present, where I have come seeking to be with Him during His trial and knowing that it is really He who is with me during mine, and through the textured glass of this chapel I see the illuminated crucifix in the main church. As Fr. Neuhaus encourages me, I don't skip ahead. I confess the link between Christ present in this tabernacle and His sacrifice this day on the cross of my sin. He has defeated the power of both the physical cross and my sin to cause death. As I sit and pray with Him in the garden, and observe Him before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, walk with Him along the Via Dolorosa, mourn His death on the cross, and as His blood and water flow down over me, it is not His lifeless body which I embrace, but His life-giving sacrifice and eternal Sonship.

I closed out this time with a return to Abba's Heart, but I will share of that in a separate post.

Authority

Oh, I completely forgot to add this thought I had while working on this morning's post, which struck me as especially apropos for today. Jesus showed us the true exercise of His authority: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. He said this after washing their feet, so that in the long view they would have the true context of His Passion and thereby know how to wield authority. Elsewhere He contrasts clearly: those who are in authority lord it over them, but you are not to be like that. Whoever would be greatest must be the last of all and the servant of all.

Trying not to wander off

I suppose I've been afar again over the last few days. I have still been reading, briefly, but haven't taken time to write. That has been partially due to quite a flurry of activity at work, which I was fortunate to know in advance would be finished by yesterday. I think it went well. We'll see.

This chapter of Abba's Heart deals with the issue of authority. We must invoke the Father's authority, represented by the ring which the father of the prodigal places upon his finger when he returns home, if we are to have the power to live as sons and daughters rather than as forsaken, wandering orphans.

A few quotations:

Authority is not the same things as power. Power is the ability to make something happen; authority is the right to use that power for a righteous purpose. As children of God, we carry the Father's authority. As we walk in His authority, He empowers us to carry out His will. - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart

But there's a thing about authority: if I try to use the authority which has been delegated to me to do something that is clearly not the Father's will, then the power which He makes available to me under His authority will be revoked, as well.

Some people have a negative view of authority because someone in authority abused them. Others have witnessed the abuse of authority toward others. Mistrust of authority is rampant, often for good reasons. - ibid.

This gets to the core of why so many of us have difficulty relating to God as Father, when our own examples of fatherhood were less than exemplary. IThat isn't exactly the same thing as the blanket rejection of authority, but it is close.

But since all authority originates from God, a blanket rejection of authority puts us in opposition to Him. The rejection of authority is in essence part of mankind's rejection of the Father Himself. - ibid.

I can hear people saying that "it isn't the same thing," and maybe it isn't, but I agree with Neal that it is, indeed, related. I see and hear so many people who don't understand how they are rejecting God's authority over us.

The word authority contains the idea of an author, a creator and source. - ibid.

I don't suppose I need to beat the reader over the head with this idea. It's a wonderful thought, though, so don't fail to dwell on it. And what a wonderful story of love He has written!

The first creed of the church was "Jesus is Lord," which meant that we willing accept the authority of Jesus over our lives. - ibid.

Too often, we pay lip service to this. We accept the idea that Jesus should have authority over us, while rejecting any agent through whom He might be directing us in a way other than the one we have chosen for ourselves. This rejection of the authority of Jesus is the reason we become powerless when we are prodigal. Without living under His authority, we have none of our own to exercise. As the living Body of Christ tasked with carefully exercising His authority in love (as it can only be used), even the Church allows that we have a responsibility to exercise our informed conscience in our particular circumstances with regard to her teachings. I have friends who do this very carefully, acknowledging the Church's teaching while humbly concluding that their own circumstances require them to act in a different way - yes, I'm thinking of you, dear friend. I know of others who reject Church teaching because and whenever it conflicts with their own circumstances. One preserves our obedient adherence to Christ's authority, the other breaks it.

It is nearly impossible to truly embrace God's redeeming, transforming grace, let alone to live a spiritually empowered life, while we reject the Father's and Jesus' authority. And the spiritual influences that enter our lives as a result of that decision do not often openly reveal their true nature.

Today's word

epistemic /ep-uh-STEE-mik/ - of or relating to knowledge or knowing : cognitive

What a fine and potentially useful word. I hope I can recall it if I need it.

A grandchild to mourn

Neal speaks in his book of the granddaughter he has never met, for whom he and his family - and especially his oldest son - pray regularly. She lives in another country, and her mother (and her mother's family) has not allowed them any contact with her.

It reminds me of the grandchild we will never know in this life, whose unmarried father induced the child's miscarriage by violently punching our daughter in the stomach when she told him that she was pregnant. We didn't learn of this until some time after the events had occurred, and the young man had already been gone from our daughter's life for months. I prayed for this grandchild this morning, and asked him or her to pray for me and to pray with me for his or her parents. They have very different needs for spiritual and emotional freedom.

I have nine grandchildren, and I love them all. One knows the Father's love perfectly. I continue to pray that the rest will know Him, too.

New words!

After a long dry spell, in the past week we finally have several new words of the day:

obnubilate /ahb-NOO-buh-layt/ - becloud; obscure

theriac /THEER-ee-ak/ - 1. a mixture of many drugs and honey formerly held to be an antidote to poison  2. a remedy for all ills : cure-all, panacea

I suppose I might want to use this instead of "panacea" some day.

levigate /LEV-uh-gayt/ - 1. polish, smooth  2a. to grind to a fine smooth powder while in moist condition  b. to separate (fine powder) from coarser material by suspending in a liquid

Taking our nourishment

Mary chose the "better part," as Jesus described it, a part that shall not be taken away. Jesus' words tell us to stop and take time to be quiet, listen and enjoy His presence. Mary reminds us that the secret place at Jesus' feet is also time at the Father's table, feeding on His warmth, His words and His love. - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart

Too often we try to feed others without first being fed. This never works. Elsewhere Jesus says, You have received freely; freely give! (Mt. 10:8) Until we have sat as His feet and eaten His banquet, we have nothing to share.

In the book, this discussion is in the section about what happens after the Prodigal has returned home. We sometimes get the impression that once we've been restored to our relationship with the Father, the hard work is over. Alternately, we think that the hard work consists of the sort of thing Martha is about. But the lack of real time with the Father is what makes us prodigals to begin with, and we shall wander off again without it.

Some parents obsess over getting the perfect family pictures. They get the picture, but they miss the moment.  - ibid.

This has been me. Sometimes we are more intent on presenting an image that is not true than enjoying the reality that is. I so hope that I am finished with this dynamic.

I love the words that Jubilee prays on the tenth station: "Strip me of my illusions to know that my true dignity far exceeds any image I might present."

We cannot sit at Jesus' feet, nor partake of the Father's abundance, if we are hiding behind a mask of self-sufficiency.

The Way of the Cross, 2016

It seemed like longer since we'd been together, but Jubilee just completed our first Way of the Cross season since 2013. It was an abbreviated season, two services on one weekend only, but what a blessing! So many new people, and the power and energy of the larger group was wonderful. The prayers and reflections were still very effective, even a half-dozen years after we updated them. My coworker who attended was deeply moved, and observed that she was surprised by how spot-on the text was: neither so deep as to be inaccessible nor too simplistic, and bringing the historical events into personal context.

I loved the new music that our director brought in. Song of Surrender was perfect for the third fall, and Mercy would have been a great selection even without this year being the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

Potential improvements: I was a touch disappointed to see that the program contained a (very nice) prayer in place of the translation of Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, which we sang for the third station. And I didn't realize until Friday night that we'd selected three of the first four songs in foreign languages, the first station in Greek, and the third and fourth both in Latin.

I missed all those who couldn't join with us, but no one more than Loretta. Her last gift to Jubilee was our reunion in ministry.

A different interpretation

In this modern era, I'm sure most people would interpret the dream from which I just awoke as proof of my bisexuality, which, they would insist, there's nothing wrong with. And since my wife was in this dream, too, along with this other couple, they'd say I wasn't even cheating on her (in my dream).

But in light of my recent reading, which I'm not tagging here as I don't want this post to appear in that thread, I instead see this as a chance to choose the identity with which I will identify. I turn away from that dream/fantasy, renounce it as the empty promise that my heart knows it is, and make my stand as my Father's son, to walk in the purity to which He calls me and in which He alone empowers me to live.

After we're welcomed home

Perhaps you had a "prodigal return" moment when everything changed as you encountered the Father . . . . The joy of coming home can quickly be replaced by the anxiety of knowing our weaknesses. When we look at the cracks and empty gaps in the foundation of our lives, we wonder if it is possible for God to build anything . . . . Though we are sons, we are acting like orphans. What I mean is that orphans see only what they lack. But sons and daughters see with gratitude the great mercy they have received, and they know their Father has more gifts in store. - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart

Yes, it is easy to return to orphan thinking. We have so long identified with our brokenness, or with whatever we hid it behind, and we now need to identify with a Father who loves us perfectly. Even the best earthly father, whose providence includes many gifts we may not have realized we needed, cannot provide for our every need. Our earthly fathers may in fact have been far from perfect, but our heavenly Father provides for all that we need in abundance. Neal will go on to discuss how God can weave his grace and mercy even into our memories, and that is because He has been at work in our lives all along.

Who I am (again)

I'm not quoting this directly, as I don't have the book (Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart) in front of me at the moment, but the gist of the thought is this: We can identify with our sin, or we can identify with our Father, but not both, and we must choose.

Again, this can go for positive traits in our lives, as well. As long as my intelligence, sexuality, wealth, or status is more important to me than my faith, it is an obstacle to my coming home to the Father's embrace. The thing that gets in our way is the idea that the Father is lucky to have me, rather than my being blessed beyond telling by the Father's mercy.

Above all other things, I am a son of the Father.

Whatever your life has been like, my greatest desire is for you to find your place as His son or daughter, too.

Without one plea

When you come to the Father, you need not bring anything with you. - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart

Well, you must bring yourself.

But many times we fail to come to the Father because we feel we must make things right before we dare approach Him.

If we could make it right, Jesus' sacrifice would serve no purpose.

Incomplete picture

The Prodigal drastically underestimates the encounter that awaits him because he never truly understood his father. His memory is vague, and he does not see the whole picture. He remembers some kindness - that his father treated his employees well - but . . . (ellipsis in original) - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart

The simple truth is that if there is any truth at all to what we believe, we all underestimate the encounter that awaits us. God's love and mercy are beyond our imagining. Our finite minds are bound by time as well as space, and our Father is infinite and timeless. So anyone who believes that they see the whole picture is fooling themselves.

That said, I don't think that's the case for Neal. Rather, he is merely pointing out how our - everyone's - incomplete understanding of God's love keeps us from running home to the Father at a full tilt, the way that He runs to meet us. Of course, since Jesus and the Father are one, His Incarnation and all that He did on earth, culminating in His passion, death, and resurrection, show us the lengths that the Father goes to meet us. Despite these incredible steps, it is still incumbent upon us prodigals to humbly turn toward home. And it is not possible that we do this without also welcoming back those who are prodigal from us.

Ugh

When I can't post about what's really on my mind, sometimes I just have to share a couple of the little things.

First off: I'm lonely, and I miss you.

Secondly, I'm feeling tempted more strongly than in a long time. I hate that, and I feel as if I'm going to yield. But I'm choosing not to.

Also: I always envisioned that my life would be full of close, deep friendship. And it isn't. 

Finally: I know that I am Your precious son. Thank You for loving me. Help me to see Your plan for my life, seeing as mine hasn't exactly come to be quite as I imagined it.

Unworthy

In his long journey home, the Prodigal faces a hard truth - he is not worthy to be called his father's son [ . . . ] We distance ourselves from the Prodigal to avoid the risk he is taking. Our hearts protest: "No, I am worthy. I deserve better. I work hard. I am a good person - at least, I'm better than most . . . . The gatekeeper will have to let me in to the Father . . . . Surely I am good enough to get into heaven. We argue our case, justifying ourselves by excusing our failures and pleading our successes. We try to earn the love we are afraid to ask for. - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart

Yes, this is Fr. Spitzer's "comparative identity" at work again. Only by receiving the mercy and grace that are freely offered us do we stop comparing ourselves to others and become vessels of God's love in their lives, too.

There is no more undeserving Prodigal than me. I used to say that with a harsh spirit of judgment toward myself, but now it is just an honest and grateful recognition of God's love and a desire that all should know it.

Coincidence?

I think it's funny that somnolent should be the WOTD, and soporific the second most-popular lookup, on the day after I had to leave work early due to accidentally taking two of my one-per-day medication, which made me very drowsy.

Who I am

And who would I be if I were no longer angry, for my anger, in a sense, defined me? Without it I might become boring. I might lose my creativity. I might lose my intensity, which I saw as some kind of wall that kept me separated from the rest of the world. I would have to deal with the hole that would be left when the anger vacated. And the size of the hole frightened me. - Evelyn Bence, Leaving Home, as quoted in Abba's Heart

I completely get this. It can apply to what we think of as our positive traits, as well, when we allow them to become more important to us than they should be.

I am a son of the Father, the King and Creator of the universe. No other trait or talent I possess compares to that truth and identity.

The Source

The Scriptures say that every family takes its name from the Father (see Eph 3:15). In the Greek language, the words for "father" (pater) and "family" (patria) are closely related. In other words, every family finds its source and identity in the Father. He is the reason we are, and we find our place and our purpose in relationship with Him. The source of all that love, of family and of home is the Father Himself. For all eternity, the Father has loved the Son and the Son has loved the Father. - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart 

This is why St. John's gospel (Jn 1:3) proclaims of Jesus, the Word, that through Him all things were made, and Colossians (1:16) says that all things were created in Him, made through Him and for Him. It is the love of the Father for the Son that set all of creation into being and sustains it, and their love for us which caused the eternal Son to enter time, to show us the nature of love - of their love, of which every other love except that inspired by the Holy Spirit is but a distortion.

(This is the part I've been wanting to reflect on since I first read it on Sunday, two days ago!)

I had something I wanted to say

Now I just hope that when I have a moment to really revisit it I can still remember what it was.

Meanwhile, I remember reading this thought later, still rooted in the prodigal son's story: Sin does not just separate us from God; it also separates us from ourselves. - Neal Lozano, Abba's Heart

If we think about the nature of Jesus' temptations, we will see how this is true for us, too.